Low-velocity impact behavior of incorporated GFRP composites with nanoclay and nanosilica in a corrosive environment: Experimental and numerical study

Abstract

Investigation and analysis of the dynamic behavior of composite materials and their failure resistance are essential. The main aim of this study is to investigate the improvement of impact properties of incorporated glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite specimens with various loading of nanoclay and nanosilica in a corrosive environment. After fabrication of samples by hand layup method, all of them were immersed in 5 wt. % of sulfuric acid solution for 0, 1 and 3 months. As the immersion time increased, the specimens containing nanosilica absorbed more water than the other samples. The force-displacement, force-time and energy-time diagrams showed the superiority of filled composites with nanoparticles over the pure sample in all immersion periods. Low-velocity impact (LVI) test results of specimens containing nanoclay showed a better behavior and with the addition of 5 wt. % of nanoclay, the impact force increased by 15.72% and the displacement decreased by 5.26%. Also, in these samples, the energy absorption rate decreased by 17.15%, which was associated with a reduction in the damage rate. After immersion of specimens in different times, specimens containing 5 wt. % of nanoclay had better strength than other samples and maintained their superior properties. The obtained results illustrated that the addition of 1 and 3 wt. % of nanosilica had no specific effect on the improvement of impact properties. Finally, incorporated GPRP composites with 3 wt. % of nanoparticles were simulated using LS-DYNA software and the experimental and numerical results were compared to investigate their accordance.