Improvement in the flexural properties of basalt fibers/epoxy-aluminum laminate composites using multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Recently, to improve the mechanical properties of polymeric composites, the inclusion of various nano particles into the polymer matrices has received much attention. But, it is not well established whether nano particles can enhance the mechanical properties of fiber metal laminates (FMLs). The present study aims to investigate the effect of multi-walled carbon nano tubes (MWCNTs) on the flexural behavior of a FML made up of alternating layers of Al 2024 along with basalt fibers reinforced epoxy. Results showed that the flexural strength and flexural modulus of samples have an upward trend up to 0.5 wt. % loading, but beyond that a downward trend was observed. Therefore, in this research, the optimal content of MWCNTs for the best flexural properties was the 0.5 wt. % and comparing to the samples without MWCNTs, the flexural strength and flexural modulus values was found to 36.62 % and 60.16 % improvement, respectively. Also, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations showed that the mechanisms of CNT-pull-out and CNT-bridging was the main reason for this findings.