In this article, the effect of hygrothermal aging on mechanical properties of fiber metal laminates (FMLs) and E-glass/epoxy (GE) composites is investigated. First, FML and GE specimens were built using wet lay-up technique under vacuum pressure. Hygrothermal aging simulation was then carried out on both specimen types in distilled water at a constant temperature of 90 °C for 5 weeks. The resul...

Natural fibers have been used to reinforce materials for many years. More currently they have been employed in combination with plastics. Many types of natural fibers have been investigated for use in plastics including flax, hemp, jute, cotton and banana. Natural fibers have the advantage that they are renewable resources and have marketing appeal. These agricultural wastes can be used to prep...

The current breed of natural-fiber based polymer composites, because of their biobased and possibly biodegradable nature, offer an alternative as a ‘green’ material available for automotive and other engineering applications. However such composites suffer from the drawback of low strength and fatigue properties compared to the carbonor glass-fiber based polymer composites. Cellulose nanofibers...

To improve the interfacial bonding of sisal fiber-reinforced polylactide biocomposites, polylactide (PLA) and sisal fibers (SF) were melt-blended to fabricate bio-based composites via in situ reactive interfacial compatibilization with addition of a commercial grade epoxy-functionalized oligomer Joncryl ADR@-4368 (ADR). The FTIR (Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis and SEM (scanni...

The molecular deformation of cotton cellulose whisker/epoxy resin (CW/EP) and tunicate whisker/poly(vinyl) acetate (TW/PVAc) composites were investigated using Raman spectroscopy. A shift in the 1095 cm Raman peak position is recorded for samples deformed in both tension and compression, which corresponds to the molecular deformation of the cellulose chains within the whiskers. Cyclic molecular...

Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations were carried out to predict the thermo-mechanical properties of the cured epoxy network composed of diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin and tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (THPA) curing agent and their single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) reinforced the epoxy matrix composites. Different characters such as the density of the materials and mean squa...

This paper compares the values of the thermal and fire resistance properties of composites made using the hand layup technique. E-Glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites was fabricated by filling varying concentration of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), magnesium hydroxide(Mg(OH)2), silicon carbide (SiC), and hematite powder. The main aim of this work was to determine the thermal conductivity, thermal e...

Impregnation of expandable graphite (EG) after thermal treatment with an epoxy resin containing surface-active agents (SAAs) enhanced the intercalation of epoxy monomer between EG layers and led to further exfoliation of the graphite, resulting in stacks of few graphene layers, so-called "stacked" graphene (SG). This process enabled electrical conductivity of cured epoxy/SG composites at lower ...

Using electromechanical technique, various conductive carbon fibers and graphite and steel filaments/epoxy micro-composites were evaluated by measuring electrical resistivity to investigate the interfacial properties including the microfailure modes and interfiber distance effect with a aid of acoustic emission (AE). Micromechanical techniques, such as pull-out and fragmentation tests, and elec...