Some studies on characterization and applicative properties of silica based hybrid nanocomposites

D. Lingaraju¹*, K. Ramji², M. Pramila devi² and P. Anil Kumar³

¹GVP College of Engineering, Madhurawada, Vishakhapatnam (India). ²Mechanical Department, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (India). ³Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam (India).

Received on August 08, 2009 and accepted on October 15, 2009

ABSTRACT

Hybrid nanocomposites are prepared by the inclusion of silica nanoparticles into the epoxy polymer by ultra-sonication method and glass fiber with 50% weight fraction is reinforced into it. The silica nanoparticles used in the preparation of composites were treated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The samples with 1%, 2% and 3% weight fraction of silica nanoparticles with unidirectional glass fiber reinforced composites are prepared by hand layup method. These samples are characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) machine to observe the crystallinity of the composite and also to identify the silica phase and its structural properties such as crystallite size, crystal structure, crystal planes, d-spacing of crystal plane and residual strain. The tensile specimens are prepared and the elastic and tensile properties are determined by using the universal testing machine (UTM) and observed that there is an improvement in the tensile strength of the composite with the inclusion of silica nanoparticles as fillers. The elastic properties of the composites are compared with mori-tanaka model. The tensile strength of the hybrid nanocomposite is improved and the density factor is not much affected. These can be used for variety of applications where the light weight materials are more important for automobile industry, sporting goods, aerospace and marine applications.

Keywords : Hybrid nanocomposite, X-ray diffractometer, elastic modulus and longitudinal tensile strength