Improvement of Hardness and Wear Resistance of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites by the Incorporation of Silica/Carbon Hybrid Nanofillers

The tribological performance of hybrid composite (epoxy reinforced with woven, nonwoven tissue glass fibers, silica and carbon black nanoparticles) was investigated. Two methods were used to ensure good dispersion of nanoparticles in epoxy resin which were ultrasonic processor and magnetic stirrer. The effect of silica and/or carbon black nanoparticle content on microindentation hardness and wear properties of the neat glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites was investigated. The results from the wear test indicated that, under all applied loads, incorporation of silica and carbon black nanoparticles either single or combined significantly improved the wear resistance of neat glass fiber reinforced epoxy. A significant increase in hardness of the hybrid nanocomposite laminates was achieved. Analysis of variance was developed to study the optimal wear testing parameters on composite samples. The most significant parameter is the time, followed by nanoparticle (silica and carbon black) content.