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In the current work, the strength and elastic properties of MXene/CNT reinforced epoxy/glass fibre based nanocomposites were investigated using experimental and analytical approach. To achieve this, the Halpin-Tsai model and Chamis model was employed to evaluate the mechanical properties of two -phase (MXene-CNT)/Epoxy composite and three-phase (MXene-CNT)/Epoxy/Glass fibre composite. The accuracy of the analytical model was verified by comparing the results with the experimental data. To study the strength properties of the composites in detail, experimental tensile and flexural tests were carried out. Finally, a parametric study was performed to investigate the influence of weight fractions and aspect ratios on the elastic properties of MXene/CNT reinforced composites. It was observed that the MXene/CNT reinforced glass/epoxy based composite exhibited higher load bearing capacity as compared to neat glass/epoxy composite for all the performed mechanical tests. The tensile, shear and flexural modulus of MXene/CNT reinforced laminated composite were found to be 17.2%, 15.6%, and 16.2%, higher in comparison to the neat glass/epoxy laminated composite. The addition of nano-fillers exerted positive impact on the elastic properties of both the two-phase and three-phase nanocomposites and the properties kept on improving with weight fraction of the nano-fillers. Regarding the impact of aspect ratio on elastic modulus, however, conflicting findings were noted. Increase in the aspect ratio, on one hand, resulted in an increase in the longitudinal elastic modulus; on the other hand, it resulted in a monotonous reduction in the shear modulus.

The research work aims to utilize one of the cheapest and most abundantly available natural fibre, sisal fibre, to fabricate a hybrid nanocomposite possessing high performance efficiency. Glass fibre (GFC), sisal fibre (SFC) and hybrid glass/sisal fibre reinforced epoxy laminate composites (HFC) were prepared and subsequently, three of the most promising nano-fillers, MXene (HFC _MXN ), Graphene nanoplatelet (HFC _GNP ) and Multi-walled carbon nanotube (HFC _CNT ), were added into the hybrid composite. The fabricated composites were comprehensively assessed and analysed for their mechanical properties, swelling and flammability behaviour. It was observed that the glass fibre reinforced composite had lowest void content (6.3%) and glass/sisal fibre reinforced laminate had the highest void content (17.2%). The addition of nano-fillers did not further enhance the void content owing to the relatively uniform dispersion of the nanoparticle, which was particularly ensured during the whole fabrication process. The incorporation of nano-fillers led to a significant enhancement in the mechanical properties; tensile and flexural strength being highest for composites containing two dimensional nano-fillers. The GFC exhibited minimum weight gain (2.25%) and least swelling thickness (1.66%) upon soaking. Among hybrid composites, nano-filler reinforced composites had relatively less weight gain post in comparison to the hybrid composite without any nano-filler. HFC _GNP had a weight gain of 6.69%, as opposed to 8.51% observed in case of HFC. The nano-fillers acted as an effective water barrier that reduced the tendency of water absorption. Furthermore, upon flammability test it was found that the burning rate decreased in order of GFC, HFC, HFC _CNT , HFC _MXN , HFC _GNP and SFC. The addition of nano-fillers led to a decrease in the burning rate owing to the promising flame retardant properties of graphene which suppressed flame propagation and helped in extinguishing the flame.

Hybrid graphene filled glass/sisal fiber-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites were successfully synthesized with different weight percentages (0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%) of graphene nanoplatelets. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of weight fraction of graphene on the mechanical and physical properties of the hybrid glass/sisal fiber-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites such as tensile, flexural, hardness, density, void content, flammability, water absorption and thickness swelling. The hybrid nanocomposites were fabricated using the vacuum bag-assisted hand lay-up technique. Different layup sequences were achieved by changing the position of the glass/sisal fiber layers, maintaining a total of five layers in each composite. The obtained results suggested that the addition of 1% graphene nano filler into the sisal/glass hybrid composite enhanced the tensile strength by 49.7% and Young's modulus by 60%. Among GNP reinforced hybrid composites, highest value of toughness (16 J) was found in case of the composite containing 1 wt.% GNP. However, when 0.5% of GNPs were added in the composite, the flexural strength and modulus reached a maximum of 306 MPa and 25 GPa, respectively, which are 228% and 362% greater than sisal/glass hybrid composites. The water absorption of the composite sample containing 0.5% GNPs was 4.62% lower than those of other hybrid glass/sisal fiber reinforced epoxy composite. Furthermore, addition of 0.5 wt% GNP resulted in a decrease in the burning rate of the hybrid composite from 11.22 mm/min to 7.6 mm/min and from 23.13 mm/min to 20.18 mm/min, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study focuses on the investigation of the synergetic effect of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the flexural properties, hardness and water absorption characteristics of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminated composite materials. The laminated composite materials were fabricated with various configuration of filler reinforcements using vacuum assisted hand lay-up technique. Further, micromechanical analysis was performed using Halpin-Tsai model to investigate the synergistic effect of CNT/GNP hybrid glass fiber reinforced epoxy nanocomposites. It was observed that the CNT and GNP reinforced hybrid composite exhibited highest value of flexural strength and hardness; the respective values being 38% and 29% higher in comparison to the neat epoxy composite. Furthermore, among GNP and CNT, the composite containing former reinforcement exhibited better mechanical properties. The composites containing nanoparticles also exhibited better water uptake characteristic, where the weight gain for hybrid composite was 1.004%, whereas, for neat epoxy composite, the weight gain was 1.210%. This was attributed to the ability of nanofillers to restrict the intermolecular movement of the surrounding GFRP composites, which delays the relaxation of polymer chains, thereby reducing the diffusion of tiny molecules through the composites. It was also observed that the addition of GNPs has a strong effect on the elastic properties of the hybrid glass fiber reinforced epoxy nanocomposite than the addition of CNTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]