Buckling characteristics of nano‐silica doped carbon fiber reinforced composites having cutouts

Abstract The current study presents an experimental investigation devoted to the nano‐silica and cutout effects on the axial and lateral buckling responses of carbon/epoxy fiber‐reinforced composite laminates. To this end, specimens manufactured by vacuum bagging after hand layup technique were prepared at various amounts of nano‐silica (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, and 3.0% by weight) incorporated into epoxy resin. Furthermore, semi‐circular and circular cutouts were opened on specimens to understand cutout effect on buckling characteristics of specimens. The results demonstrated that nano‐silica had a significant effect on buckling behaviors of the carbon fiber‐reinforced composites. Regardless of cutout presences, maximum critical axial (393.33 N, 361.67 N, 320 N for W, C and S) and lateral buckling loads (34.67 N, 33 N, 32.33 N for W, C and S), were achieved from the samples having 1.5 wt. % nano‐silica. In specimens having no cutout, maximum improvements of 72.26% in axial and 48.6% in lateral directions were achieved from the specimens having 1.5 wt. % nano‐silica content. A further amount of nano‐silica addition decreased the resistance to buckling of the specimens. Also, the presence of cutouts on the specimens led to decreases in critical loads. The decreases of 1.5 wt. % nano‐silica doped specimens without cutout in the axial and lateral critical buckling loads, respectively, were seen as 22.9% and 7.24% for circular cutout, 8.75% and 5.06% for semi‐circular cutout. It was concluded that cutout processing and nano‐silica additions should be taken into consideration in a material that may be exposed the buckling failures. Highlights Nano‐silica impact on buckling behaviors of carbon fiber‐reinforced composites Cutout effects on buckling properties of carbon fiber‐reinforced composites Failure modes of carbon fiber‐reinforced composites with nano‐silica particles Findings showed that 1.5 wt. % nano‐silica inclusion exhibited the best values for buckling.