The Effect of Multilevel Carbon Reinforcements on the Fire Performance, Conductivity, and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Composites.

We studied the effect of a multilevel presence of carbon-based reinforcements-a combination of conventional load-bearing unidirectional carbon fiber (CF) with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and conductive CNT-containing nonwoven carbon nanofabric (CNF(CNT))-on the fire performance, thermal conductivity, and mechanical properties of reference and flame-retarded epoxy resin (EP) composites. The inclusion of carbon fibers and flame retardant reduced the peak heat release rate (pHRR) of the epoxy resins. The extent to which the nanoreinforcements reduced the pHRR depended on their influence on thermal conductivity. Specifically, high thermal conductivity is advantageous at the early stages of degradation, but after ignition it may lead to more intensive degradation and a higher pHRR; especially in the reference samples without flame retardant. The lowest pHRR (130 kW/m²) and self-extinguishing V-0 UL-94 rating was achieved in the flame-retarded composite containing all three levels of carbon reinforcement (EP + CNF(CNT) + CNT + CF FR). The plasticizing effect of the liquid flame retardant impaired both the tensile and flexural properties; however, it significantly enhanced the impact resistance of the epoxy resin and its composites.

Detection of Delamination in Polymer Composites by Digital Image Correlation-Experimental Test.

Fiber-reinforced polymer composite structures are frequently used in industries where personal safety is critical; therefore, it is important to periodically estimate or monitor the condition of high value, load bearing structures. The digital image correlation (DIC) is well known as an effective method to obtain full field surface strains; in this paper, it was used to detect artificial damage inside the structures. Carbon or glass fabric reinforced epoxy specimens were produced and tested. All specimens contained an artificial through-delamination which was created by the insertion of different foils of a mould release agent during production. Tensile and compression tests were done while the camera system collected the images of the deformed surface to be analyzed posteriorly. In most cases the approximate locations of delaminations could be effectively detected from strain maps by the localization of zones showing different strain values than intact zones.