Evaluation of Mechanical and Thermal Behaviour of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Nano Fillers based GFRP Composites

Abstract

The incorporation of nanoparticles in polymeric composites are extensively used in all engineering applications. In this work, nano scaled iron and aluminium particles reinforced GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer) composites have been fabricated to investigate the mechanical and thermal properties for gearbox casing applications. The aluminium nanoparticles were prepared at ambient temperature by a chemical reduction technique and iron particles prepared in crushing technique. The mechanical properties (tensile, impact and hardness) and thermal properties (thermal conductivity and heat dissipation rate) tests were carried out. The results showed that, tensile properties increase till 3% wt. of aluminium and iron nanoparticles, impact strength and hardness increase with addition of aluminium and iron nanoparticles. The heat dissipation rate and thermal conductivity increases with addition of both nanoparticles. The morphology of the GFRP composite samples, examined by scanning electron microscopy, has revealed that aluminium and iron nanoparticles were dispersed intensively and inhomogeneous distribution of both nanoparticles in the epoxy matrix was observed.