Mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites with boron carbide nanofiller

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the influence of boron carbide particles (B4C) on the mechanical and thermo-mechanical characteristics of glass fabric reinforced epoxy to identify the suitability of fabricated composites in an automotive application. The influence of B4C up to 0.4 wt% is analyzed by mixing with epoxy resin using a magnetic stirring approach, followed by compression molding with the glass fiber reinforcement. The results revealed that the hardness of glass strengthened epoxy was increased by 38%, and the other mechanical characteristics such as tensile and flexural strength were raised by 25% and 19%, respectively, when the weight fractions of B4C were raised to 0.3 wt%. From the fractography, it was observed that the fiber pull-out and fiber fracture were the dominant failure mechanisms in the developed composites during the application. The findings of the dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that the storage and loss modulus of the composites was increased by 50% and 43%, respectively, with the 0.3 wt% of B4C showing the increase in the dynamic ability of materials even at elevated temperatures.