Carbon plain weave textile reinforced epoxy modified with cellulose nano fibers: effect of CNF length

The present investigation gives a contribution on understanding the effects of hybrid epoxy resins, enhanced with cellulose nano fibers (CNF), on the mechanical performance of carbon fibers plain weave textile composites. The experimental investigation considered two lengths of CNF for the same weight content (0.3%) in the epoxy resin. The effects on the mechanical performance, compared to the composite with pure resin counterpart, were assessed with: quasi-static tensile and bending loading. Moreover, bending and tensile cyclic loading, for some stress levels, were supposed to detect advantages of the hybrid resin in extending the fatigue life of the textile composite. The results show slight variations of the quasi-static properties and a considerable extension of the fatigue life mainly when the longer CNF are considered.