Experimental and numerical studies on the mechanical characteristics of Timoho fiber epoxy composites with nanofiller addition

Abstract This study is focused on the investigation of the mechanical characteristics of Timoho fiber (TF) epoxy composites with graphene as the filler material, both experimentally and numerically, for high‐velocity impacts. The composites were prepared by the compression molding process with varying wt.% of graphene. An experimental approach was undertaken to study the behavior of the composites under different wt.% of graphene. To validate the results obtained in the experimental approach, numerical studies were conducted. It was observed that there was an enhancement in the mechanical properties with the addition of graphene. For tensile strength, there was an increase of 33.17% when comparing the controlled sample (0% graphene) and the sample with 2% graphene content. Subsequently, there was an increase of 36.48%, 58.02%, and 29.79% when comparing the controlled samples and samples with 2% graphene, respectively, for flexural, impact, and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). However, it was observed that after the addition of 2 wt.% of graphene, the mechanical strength decreased due to the agglomeration of graphene inside the composite, which was confirmed using the SEM analysis. For the numerical study, ANSYS workbench was employed, and simulation was conducted using finite element analysis (FEA) for the tensile and flexural test. The numerical findings were found to be reasonably close to the experimental values, with variations ranging from a minimum of 2% to a maximum of 15%. In the design of experiments, Taguchi's approach was used to determine the effect of a variety of parameters on the tensile behavior of the TF epoxy composites. Highlights 2 wt.% of graphene was observed to be the optimum concentration of graphene. The decline in mechanical properties was observed at 3 and 4 wt.% of graphene. Agglomeration of graphene filler in the composite was confirmed using SEM. ANOVA showed that wt.% of graphene made the top contribution to tensile strength. The nanographene‐incorporated TF composites can be used for lightweight applications.