TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact strengthening of laminated kevlar/epoxy composites by nanoparticle reinforcement
AU - Mourad, Abdel Hamid I.
AU - Cherupurakal, Nizamudeen
AU - Hafeez, Farrukh
AU - Barsoum, Imad
AU - Genena, Farah A.
AU - Al Mansoori, Mouza S.
AU - Al Marzooqi, Lamia A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The research has been funded by United Arab Emirates University through UAEU-Sure plus program (#31N304).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Herein, we report the fabrication and characterization of high-strength Kevlar epoxy composite sheets for structural application. This process includes optimization of the curing conditions of composite preparation, such as curing time and temperature, and the incorporation of nanofillers, such as aluminum oxide (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in different weight percentages. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was utilized to investigate the thermal stability and curing behavior of the epoxy, finding that a minimum of 5 min is required for complete curing under an optimized temperature of 170◦C. Moreover, mechanical characterization, including flexural and drop-weight tests, were performed and found to be in good agreement with the DSC results. Our results show that nanofiller incorporation improves the mechanical properties of Kevlar epoxy composites. Among the tested samples, 0.5% MWCNT incorporation obtained the highest mechanical strength.
AB - Herein, we report the fabrication and characterization of high-strength Kevlar epoxy composite sheets for structural application. This process includes optimization of the curing conditions of composite preparation, such as curing time and temperature, and the incorporation of nanofillers, such as aluminum oxide (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in different weight percentages. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was utilized to investigate the thermal stability and curing behavior of the epoxy, finding that a minimum of 5 min is required for complete curing under an optimized temperature of 170◦C. Moreover, mechanical characterization, including flexural and drop-weight tests, were performed and found to be in good agreement with the DSC results. Our results show that nanofiller incorporation improves the mechanical properties of Kevlar epoxy composites. Among the tested samples, 0.5% MWCNT incorporation obtained the highest mechanical strength.
KW - Curing
KW - Epoxy
KW - Kevlar
KW - Nanocomposites
KW - Thermo-mechanical properties
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096773565&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym12122814
DO - 10.3390/polym12122814
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096773565
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 12
M1 - 2814
ER -