Compressive properties of nano-calcium carbonate/epoxy and its fibre composites

Compressive properties of fibre reinforced polymer composites are always weak parts in structural applications, and improvement of such properties can lead to the usage in the wider fields. Matrix modification is an effective way to improve this property. In this paper, a silane coupling agent (KH550) as an interfacial modifier was introduced into nanocomposites through manufacturing KH-550/nano-calcium carbonate (nano-CaCO3) master batch. The effect of different modified nano-CaCO3 content on the compressive properties of epoxy resin cast and its carbon fibre composites was evaluated. Compression test revealed a remarkable improvement of 13.5%, 6.1%, 42.5% and 106.3% in compressive strength, elastic modulus, displacement and the total fracture work of epoxy resin cast filled with 4 wt.% nano-CaCO3 contrasted to neat epoxy casts. It showed that the modified nano-CaCO3 particles had a strengthening and toughening effect. Accordingly, the compressive properties of nano-CaCO3/epoxy/carbon fibre composites based on the modified epoxy matrix are also improved. The influence of the nanoparticles on the failure modes of the fibre composites was also studied. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.