Damage assessment of nanofiller-reinforced woven kevlar KM2plus/Epoxy resin laminated composites

The resiliency of advanced laminated nanocomposite materials to mitigate impact load is an essential characteristic for material selection and product design. This paper investigates the effect of nanofillers and its effect on the damage resistance performance of a newly developed woven Kevlar fabric. Three types of nanofillers were investigated: (1) Silicon carbide (SiC), (2) aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), and (3) multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT). The nanofillers were dispersed using shear mixing and sonication into the epoxy to reinforce Kevlar fabric. Moreover, the effect of the nanofiller's concentration on the damage resistance performance was analyzed. All specimens had 10 layers of Kevlar fabric (KM2plus) stacked with a 0° angle. To evaluate the damage resistance performance a drop-weight impact test was conducted using a maximum drop height of 100 cm. X-ray diffraction was used to evaluate the level of material damage caused by the impact load. The addition of nanofillers enhanced the flexural properties of the composite and as well as its resiliency towards impact loads. In particular, the 0.5 wt% MWCNT laminated Kevlar/epoxy composite possessed the highest impact damage resistance capacity. Furthermore, the damage evolution was not observed within the impact area and in the surrounding areas for specimens with 0.5 wt% MWCNT. Therefore, the results indicate that the optimal nanofiller content for Kevlar KM2plus/epoxy nanocomposites is 0.5 wt% MWCNTs.