Session: 16-01-01: NSF-funded Research (Grad & Undergrad)

Paper Number: 76955

Start Time: Wednesday, 02:25 PM

76955 - Fabrication, Processing and Characterization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Laminated Composite Embedded With Graphene Lattice Sheets 

Due to superior specific properties over traditional materials, the use of textile composites for aerospace, automotive, and marine applications has increased dramatically. The next generation of reinforcements, namely NCF, is being explored for various structural applications. NCF provides excellent laminate strength, and the cost of fabrication is substantially lower than traditional composite manufacturing. Composite laminates are bonded together by a thin layer of resin between them, and the interface layer transfers the displacement and force from one layer to another layer. When these layers damage or weaken, adjacent layers separate, which forms the crack between adjacent plies. This also reduces the strength and stiffness of laminate which is a big factor in the lifetime of a composite structure. Eventually, this separation of layers causes stress concentration in the plies, which leads to the growth of delamination and results in failure of the laminate. Different micro/nanofiller, such as nanoparticles and nanofibers incorporated within the matrix material of composites, have offered new avenues for improving the multifunctional properties of polymer matrix composites due to their superior properties and high aspect ratio.

This paper presents the challenges in the fabrication of graphene sheet reinforced non-crimp fabric (NCF) composite laminates and their effect on the interlaminar strength of the composite laminates. In the present work, the laminates were manufactured using non-crimp carbon fabric prepreg in conjunction with 50,120 and 240 µm thick graphene sheets at the midplane. Graphene sheets were purchased from XG Sciences, MI USA. Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) tests are done as per ASTM 5528 using INSTRON electromechanical testing system. Modified Beam Theory method used to calculate mode I fracture toughness, using load, displacement, specimen dimension, and crack length.

As the graphene sheets are brittle, during the fabrication process, it was observed that there was very little bonding between the graphene and matrix. This resulted in a very weak interface. To overcome this, graphene sheets were converted into a lattice structure. The lattice structure used in the present research had a square grid with the opening of various.  Effects of sheet thickness, grid size were evaluated by mode I fracture toughness, with and without nanoengineered enhanced laminates. After the DCB test, a coupon from each lot separated about midplane to observe and compare bonding using Axio Image upright microscopes. The results indicate that the composite laminates fabricated using lattice graphene structure had better interlaminar strength than the laminates manufactured with straight graphene sheets.

Presenting Author: Vishwas Jadhav North Carolina A&T Satte University

Authors:

Vishwas Jadhav North Carolina A&T Satte University
Ajit Kelkar North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University