EPOXY-BASED COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH MMT AND TiO2NANOPARTICLES AND SUPPORTED WITH THE HONEYCOMBARAMID CORE: A CASE STUDY

This work presents the results of investigations into the thermal, dynamic mechanical, and tribological propertiesof epoxy resin reinforced with titanium dioxide nanoparticles and organically modified montmorillonite invarying proportions. Additionally, reinforcement of an aramid honeycomb core was used to compare theproperties of samples with and without the honeycomb structure. A modified T-07 tester was employed toassess the wear resistance of materials and metal coatings during rubbing with loose abrasive. Thermodynamictests were performed using the three-point bending mode on an Instrument DMA SDTA861 thermal analyzerin the temperature range from 20C to 140C. It was found that at an operating temperature of around 57C,the lowest stiffness was observed in the sample without an aramid core and with 2 vol.% particulate filler inthe composite. Tribological tests determined the wear resistance, with composites containing montmorilloniteexhibiting the highest wear rates, while the sample with the highest proportion of TiO2 nanoparticles was themost wear-resistant. Notably, the wear rate decreased further when the friction area was along the walls of thearamid honeycomb core.