Influence of MWCNTs on the MechanicalProperties of Continuous Carbon EpoxyComposites

The Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites finds wide range of applications in various fields such as aerospace, defence etc. The present study focuses on fabrication and
mechanical characterization of different ply oriented Continuous Carbon Fibre reinforcedepoxy composites (CCFE). CCFE composites were fabricated using Drum winding, Hand Lay Up (HLU) followed by Compression Moulding with (0°)4,
(0°/90°/0°/90°)4, (45°)4 orientations. Mechanical haracterisation was performed on the fabricated composites as per ASTM standards. CCFE with (0°/90°/0°/90°)4 orientation exhibited better compressive strength over other composites. 0.5,1.5 weight % of Multi Walled Carbon Nano-Tubes (MWCNTs) were reinforced in to the epoxy resin using ultrasonicator. The resin mixture with 0.5, 1.5 weight % of MWCNTs was used as matrix
for the fabrication of (0°/90°/0°/90°)4 composites. Tensile, Compression, Flexural, Impact, Hardness and Water absorption tests were performed to investigate the effect of MWCNTs on (0°/90°/0°/90°)4 composites. CCFE samples with MWCNTs at 0.5% exhibited 1.63%, 5.23%, 16.47%, 3.9%, 29.6% increment in tensile strength, compressive strength, ILSS, impact strength, hardness, water absorptionand 36.9% decrement in flexural strength