Experimental analysis of ILSS of glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic and thermoset textile composites enhanced with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

In this study experimental investigation of interlaminar shear strength of glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and epoxy based thermosets composites enhanced with multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is presented, and comparison is made between thermoplastic and thermosets composites. Suspension of MWCNTs in TPU and epoxy matrix was prepared using magnetic stirring and sonication technique. Both thermoplastic reinforced glass fibre and thermosets reinforced glass fibre composites were manufactured using hand layup technique. Carbon nanotubes were added in the concentrations of 0.1 %weight, 0.3 %weight and 0.5 %weight in both types of composites. Results showed that as the concentration of CNTs increases, the ILSS of the nanocomposites was also improved. With an addition of 0.5 % weight CNTs, there was improvement of 24.37 % in ILSS in epoxy based composites and 10.05 % enhancement in thermoplastic polyurethane reinforced glass fibre composites. The average ILSS obtained for thermoplastic polyurethane composites was less than that of epoxy composites. The TPU based composites also demonstrated inelastic deformations without any trace of brittle fracture. The pristine epoxy based composites on the other hand did show inelastic deformations followed by brittle fracture. Higher concentrations of MWCNTs led to an absence of brittle fracture during the tests, owing to the crack bridging effect of the CNTs.