Abstract
Glass fabric reinforced composite laminates with two different epoxy formulations as matrix materials were fabricated with discretely varying additions of particulate graphite upto 6 wt%. The influence of these additions on the shear related behaviour of the composite is reported. While the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of the composites with both the resin formulations and two different widths exhibited a decreasing set of values for 2 and 4 wt% graphite, those for the 6 wt% additions indicated a trend towards either a saturation or marginal recovery. The compression strengths for the composites fabricated with the two resin formulations showed opposing trends in that the specimens with the room temperature cured resin exhibited an increase upto 4 wt% graphite. The shear strength in compression was observed to be larger than the ILSS values of the abovesaid laminates. The transverse modulus of the composites exhibited an increase upto 4 wt% graphite. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was carried out on the failed specimens and the observed fracture features are reported.
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