Fatigue and Izod impact performance of carbon plain weave textile reinforced epoxy modified with cellulose microfibrils and rubber nanoparticles

This work details an experimental investigation on understanding the effects of hybrid epoxy resins, filled with micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) and carboxylated nitrile-butadiene rubber nanoparticles (XNBR), on the tensile–tensile fatigue performance of carbon plain weave textile reinforced composites. Twelve combinations of MFC and XNBR weight contents in the epoxy resin (from 0% to 0.5% MFC and from 0% to 3% XNBR) were considered for preliminary quasi-static tests and five of them were selected to study the fatigue behaviour considering different loading levels. Moreover, the effect of the twelve fillers contents was observed on the Izod impact strength. The investigation finds that the best fatigue performance, for the considered weight contents of fillers, is of the composite enhanced with the maximum content of MFC. The SEM observations of the fracture surfaces indicate the extensive ‘‘plastic” deformation of the matrix and the improved fibre and matrix adhesion.