Effect of Micro-fillers on the Performance of Thermoplastic Para Aramid Composites for Impact Applications

Para-aramid fiber reinforced composite are the premier choice for protective applications due to their superior mechanical properties. Use of thermoplastic matrices in such composites is gaining the interest of researchers due to their better energy absorption. Polyvinyl butyral (PVB), a thermoplastic matrix, has very good mechanical and impact properties. Many studies have reported in the literature on the characterization of mechanical performance of thermoset composites for impact applications, however, there is a need to study para-aramid (PA) thermoplastic composite produced with PVB as well as further improvement of their properties using particulate reinforcements. In the present work, prepreg were developed by impregnating PA woven fabrics with a slurry of PVB, with and without silica micro particles (SMP) and glass microspheres (GMS) ranging from 1–4 %. Composites were fabricated using compression molding. 3-point bending (flexural), Pendulum (Charpy) impact and drop weight impact testing of the composites were performed. The results showed that by the addition of SMP and GMS the impact properties were increases and GMS gives better results as compared to SMP. One-way ANOVA (Tukey) statistical analysis supports the experimental findings.