Low-velocity impact performance of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics modified with carbon nanotube, nanoclay and hybrid nanoparticles

Addition of nanoparticles in polymeric composites for use in fabrication and characterization of fiber-reinforced plastic composites has recently shown a lot of promise. Nanoparticles typically used in most studies include multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and nanoclay. In the current research, in addition to including nanoclay and MWCNTs individually, we have also studied the effect of hybrid of the two in enhancing the impact performance of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites. We have fabricated CFRP composites with 0.3wt.% of MWCNTs, 2wt.% of nanoclay and hybrid of MWCNTs and nanoclay at 0.1wt.% and 2wt.%, respectively. Control samples were also fabricated with no nanoparticles. Composite laminates were subjected to impact loading at 30, 40 and 50J energy levels. Energy, load, displacement and velocity responses of samples were obtained. Damage area of control and all modified samples were investigated using digital thermography technique and compared. MWCNT and nanoclay enhanced the impact properties and reduced the damaged area of composite samples slightly. However, significant improvement was noticed for the hybrid nanoparticle-reinforced composite samples.