Mechanical, interfacial and thermal properties of silica aerogel-infused flax/epoxy composites

The mechanical, interfacial and thermal properties of a flax/epoxy composite incorporated with a silica aerogel (SA) at0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 wt.% were examined in this work. A set of maximum enhancements of 8.7%, 9.0% and 24.0 % in the impact, inter-laminar shear strength (ILSS) and compressive strengths were achieved by adding 0.5 wt.% SA into the flax/epoxy composites. Also, the results obtained from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) indicated that the damping characteristics, peak tan delta and peak loss modulus improved at all filler concentrations, while the glass transition temperature (Tg) decreased slightly. Features of SA such as biodegradability, ability to improve the mechanical properties as observed in this work and enhanced damping characteristics make them suitable for application in machine parts requiring impact resistance and vibration damping characteristics.