Fabrication and characterization of composite laminates consisted of polymer /carbon fabric / Nermen Mohamed Baheg Mahrous ; Supervised Said Sayed Gad Elkholy , Hala Fikry Naguib , Sawsan Fakhry Halim

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Physical Chemistry

The interest in using fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRP) in a broad range of novel applications highlights the need of improved designs and fabrication techniques. Although carbon fabric/epoxy resin (CFR/ER) composites possess outstanding mechanical performance and good process-ability, however, epoxy resins (ER) are relatively brittle which causes a major problem for the performance of the final structure. In this thesis, we present the production of carbon fabric reinforced polymer composite laminates based on a combination of epoxy resin and acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) as a matrix and woven carbon fiber as reinforcement phase. The carbon-fabric-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) composite laminates were prepared using two stages technique that involves hand lay-up method followed by compression molding. The main points of investigation were the functionality of using NBR elastomer as outer layers, selection of suitable NBR/ER formulation and different fabric orientations. Various mechanical properties under static and dynamic loads, thermal properties and surface morphology were examined experimentally to access the CFRP performance. The test results of the CFRP having NBR/ER as outer layers were compared with that of CFR/ER composites; it was found to be superior in all aspects. Keywords: Carbon fabric/epoxy resin(CFR/ER) , Epoxy resins(ER), Carbon fabric reinforced polymer(CFRP)composite laminates, Nitrile Abstract iv rubber(NBR), Hand lay up Method, Compression molding technique, Mechanical properties under static and dynamic loads, Thermal properties and surface morphology

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