Comparative Study on the Creep Behavior of a Hybrid Composite Material Doped with Nano Material

Today, we are facing a technological revolution in the improvement of engineering materials where it is required to produce a specific material with relatively high strength associated with lightweight to be used in many industrial applications, so the core idea behind this investigative study is enhancing creep strain property for a specific composite material composed of carbon fiber plus epoxy resin mixed with hardener. The improvement procedure was done by adding additive material named multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), where the mixing style was a percentage weight base. The total suggested weight was 1 Kg for both cases, where the reference composite was composed of one kilogram of carbon fiber plus epoxy resin with hardener. Meanwhile, the second composite consists of the above-mentioned components (0.9 Kg) with multi-wall carbon nanotubes (0.1Kg). Final experimental results showed the average percentage creep strain for the reference is 0.19566, and the associated value for the hybrid one is 0.173 with a reduction in creep strength resistance of about 11.58% under 120 hours of continuous loading of weight 5 kilograms under 25°C in both two cases. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the internal undesired gaps with the reference composite have been totally recovered due to adding the nanomaterial with the suggested percentage ratio, making the produced composite more challenging and sustaining dimension changes during ordinary loading.