Axial and lateral buckling analysis of fiber reinforced S-glass/epoxy composites containing nano-clay particles

In the present study, lateral and axial buckling characteristics of the S-glass/epoxy composites were investigated incorporating nano-clay (NC) particles within the common matrix of epoxy resin. Critical axial and lateral buckling loads of the composite samples were experimentally determined for different weight contents of NC particles (1, 1.5, 2 and 3 wt %). The effects of fiber orientation angles on critical buckling loads were investigated for both of axial and lateral buckling analyses, and it was shown that maximum axial and lateral buckling loads were obtained with fiber orientation angle of [0 degrees/90 degrees] and [15 degrees/-75 degrees], respectively. In addition, influence of NC particles on tensile and flexural properties were examined only for NC content of 1 wt %. It is concluded that incorporation of NC particles by 1 wt % in the composites resulted in 8.6% improvement axial buckling load, and further increasing NC content did not significantly effects on axial and lateral buckling values implying poor interfacial stress between NC particles and epoxy resin.