Influence of Poly (vinyl butyral) Modification on the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Kevlar Fiber Reinforced Novolac epoxy/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites

The effect of poly (vinyl butyral) and acid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNT) on the thermal and mechanical performance of Kevlar fiber reinforced novolac epoxy nanocomposites was investigated and presented in this paper. Nanocomposite containing 1.5 wt. % poly (vinyl butyral) and 0.5 wt. % f-MWCNT exhibited best thermal and mechanical properties (except flexural strength) among all the nanocomposites reported here. It showed similar to 5%, 27% and 126 % improvement in tensile strength, young's modulus and impact strength respectively as compared to the neat novolac epoxy Kevlar composite. Nanocomposite containing 0.5 wt. % f- MWCNT and 2 wt. % poly (vinyl butyral) showed best flexural strength and modulus among all the nanocomposites with increment of about 91% and 56 %.