UV aging effect on buckling properties of nanoclay particulated intraply hybrid composites

Abstract This work experimentally investigated how ultraviolet (UV) aging affects the buckling properties of polymer-based intraply hybrid composites reinforced with nanoparticles (NPs) and varied in weight ratios. The nanoclay reinforced intraply carbon/aramid/epoxy composite samples with six different weight ratios of nanoparticles (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3%) were subjected to axial and lateral buckling tests after 250 h and 500 h of UV aging. At the end of the study, SEM images were taken for both buckling types and the damage patterns of the composite materials were analyzed. Considering the unaged samples, the critical buckling load (P cr ) of hybrid composites with NP reinforcement reached the highest values for 1% wt, with increases of 22.28 and 25.98% for the axial and lateral buckling test, respectively. The addition of more particles by weight resulted in a gradual decrease in the P cr for both buckling tests. The P cr decreases for axial and lateral buckling tests of unaged samples with 3 wt% nanoparticle reinforcement were found to be 8.18% and 25.43%, respectively. Experimental results showed that the buckling features of intraply samples changed due to both UV exposure and the addition of NPs. Furthermore, as UV exposure time increases, the P cr for each weight ratio increased for both buckling types. Considering the UV effect, the axial P cr increased by 32.07% and 40.89% in 1%wt particle reinforced samples after 250 and 500 h of UV aging, respectively. Similarly, an increase of 32.65% and 42.32% in lateral P cr was observed in 1%wt particle reinforced samples after 250 and 500 h of UV aging, respectively. Finally, SEM images revealed matrix cracks, fiber breakage, debris, microbuckled fiber, and delamination mode failure morphologies.