Fracture and Structural Integrity (Sep 2019)

Multi-parameter analysis of curing cycle for GNPs/glass fabric/ epoxy laminated nanocomposites

  • Georgios Seretis,
  • Aikaterini Polyzou,
  • Dimitrios Manolakos,
  • Christopher Provatidis

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 50

Abstract

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In this study, a multi-parameter analysis, using Taguchi method for design of experiments, has been conducted to investigate the optimum curing conditions for GNPs/E-glass fabric/epoxy laminated nanocomposites. The independent variables in the L25 Taguchi orthogonal array were heating rate, curing temperature and curing time, addressing five levels each. Tensile and 3-point bending tests were performed for each experiment number (run number) of the Taguchi L25. The analysis shown that the most significant para­meter for tensile strength is the time and for flexural strength is the tem­pe­ra­ture. Also, it shown that the optimum performance was obtained for tem­pera­ture values greater than the glass transition temperature Tg.

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