Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composites Modified with Micro- and Nano-Sized Magnesium Oxide Particles

Abstract

A systematic study on evaluating the effect of micro- and nano-sized magnesium oxide (MgO) particles on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber/epoxy composites was conducted by adding various contents of MgO particles into an epoxy resin matrix. The impact and flexural strengths were determined by the Charpy impact tests and three-point bending experiments, respectively. We found that the carbon fiber/epoxy composites filled with nano-MgO particles had higher mechanical strength than that of the carbon fiber/epoxy composites filled with micro-MgO particles. Both impact and flexural strength were enhanced by adding the proper content of nano-MgO particles. Although the impact strength was increased by adding micro-MgO particles, the flexural strength was decreased by adding micro-MgO particles. In addition, the influence of the nano- and micro-particles on the failure modes of the fiber/epoxy composites was also studied and is described.

Keywords:

• epoxy
• failure modes
• magnesium oxide particles
• mechanical property
• nano- and micro-sized

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province, China (No. 202103021224102), the Key Research and Development (R&D) Projects of Shanxi Province (No. 202102040201011) and the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Taiyuan University of Technology (2021).