Effect of Nano Clay on the Mechanical Properties of Sandwich Structure
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38032/scse.2025.3.166Keywords:
Sandwich structure, Aluminum sheet, PVC foam, Nano clay, Mechanical propertiesAbstract
Sandwich composite materials are widely used in numerous engineering fields and applications due to their excellent mechanical properties and lightweight. The mechanical and physical properties, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of composite materials can be improved by adding various organic and inorganic filler materials. In this study, nano clay was used as filler in epoxy resin to examine the mechanical properties of the composite material by conducting tension, bending, cyclic bending, and short beam shear tests. PVC foam, widely known as a load-bearing component was used as the core, and Aluminum sheet was used as the upper and lower facing of the sandwich structure. Epoxy resin of 10:1 ratio was chosen for the intermediate interface with a variation of nano clay containing 0.5%, and 1% of the total mixture by mass. While manufacturing the sandwich structure, pressure was applied by creating a vacuum chamber using thick polythene and a vacuum pump and sucking the air out of the chamber. The study reveals that incorporating nano-clay affects material properties variably. Bending strength, specific energy absorption (SEA), and short beam shear strength increase to 0.5% but decline or stabilize beyond that. Modulus of elasticity (MOE) and tensile strength decrease initially, then rise. Cyclic bending deformation increases with nano-clay content, peaking at 1%. No delamination occurs, though wrinkling is observed. The overall finding was negative and it was observed that the effect of nano clay was not significant due to the low strength of the soft PVC core.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Devashis Bagchi, Bickrom Saha, Md. Roknuzzaman, Md Arifuzzaman, Md Shariful Islam (Author)
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