Effect of micro‐ and nanofiller hybrids on the dynamic mechanical properties of glass reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract Reinforcement of epoxy glass fabric composites with nano‐ and micro‐fillers has resulted in the development of polymer composites with good electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. The present work attempts to estimate the impact of hybrid fillers on dynamic‐mechanical properties of the epoxy composites with a different filler. The dynamic mechanical parameters such as storage modulus, loss modulus, and damping factor over a temperature of 25 ^° C–250°C have been investigated. The viscoelastic properties of composites are also confirmed with a Cole‐Cole plot. From the results, the storage modulus of the composites is observed to lie in the range of 8000 to 12,500 MPa, and the epoxy composite with silicon carbide filler shows the highest storage modulus. Composite with 5 wt% of alumina shows the maximum loss modulus of 2100 MPa. The glass transition temperature of the base epoxy composite is 135°C and it increases to 137°C with the incorporation of hybrid cenosphere and molybdenum sulfide fillers. The storage modulus shows only marginal differences as compared to their counterparts with nanofillers but is higher by about 10–15% in comparison to the micron filler‐based composites. However, the differences in the loss modulus of the nanocomposites, hybrid composites, and the composites with micron‐sized filler are not significant.