| Summary: | Aerogels are the lightest solid that exists. Despite being light, aerogel has high strength to weight ratio but it is rarely used by industries. The aviation industry today is looking towards creating a lighter and stronger composite. Aerogel is the material that is being looked at as it has the desired properties.
In this project, CFRP Prepreg sandwich composites with Silica Nanogel as the core had been fabricated. Different types of methods were used to fabricate the composite; for instant, using multiple steps curing and different types of prepregs. The mechanical properties and bonding characteristics of the composites were also investigated and compared.
From the investigation, it was found that the fabricated composite could withstand maximum load of about 800N to 1000N. Besides that, through Climbing Drum Peel Test, it was observed that there were no bonding between Nanogel and the prepregs. If the Nanogel could be properly bonded to the prepreg, the maximum load might increase significantly.
The variables in the project were the inner compartment configurations of the composite, the curing methods and the prepregs used. The 4 Point Bend Test had proven that the same results were obtained regardless of the inner compartment configurations. As for the curing methods, the 1 step curing method produced a stronger structure compared to a 2 steps co curing method due to insufficient resin in the 2 step co curing method. For structure fabricated using 0°/90° CFRP Prepreg, no catastrophic failure were observed. Catastrophic failure occurred for the Unidirectional CFRP Prepreg structure as the structure cracks along the direction of the fiber at considerably low load.
These maximum load of the Nanogel composites were lower compared to Honeycomb composites (about 1700N) but with more research done in improving the fabrication process and bonding the Nanogel to the CFRP, the maximum load of the composite may have significant increase.
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