An experimental study on the bearing strength of pin-loaded ceramic particles filled woven glass/epoxy composites

The present study experimentally investigates the effect of various ceramic particles and different particle weight fractions on the bearing strength and failure modes of pinned joints in woven glass/epoxy composite plates. The composite plates are filled with Silicon Carbide (SiC), Aluminum Oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) and Boron Carbide (B 4 C) ceramic particles at 5%, 10% and 15% weight fractions. Tensile tests were carried out on single pinned joints in woven glass/epoxy composite specimens. Accordingly, the effects of ceramic particles, particle weight fractions and pin joint geometry were evaluated on the bearing strength and the failure modes. The damaged specimens were examined with load–pin displacement curves, visual and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the bearing strength and failure mode were considerably affected by the ceramic particles, the particle weight fractions and the geometric dimensions. It was found that the addition of the ceramic particles into composites improved the bearing strengths of pinned joints in the composites for all weight fractions compared to the unfilled composite. The highest bearing strengths were obtained for composites filled with 10 wt.% particles. As a result, the increase in the bearing strength is almost 43% for composites filled with SiC, 53% filled with Al 2 O 3 and 47% filled with B 4 C compared to the unfilled composite, for ratio e/d = 3.