Post-Buckling Experiments and Buckling Analysis of Glass Fiber Reinforced

"Experimental data obtained from buckling and postbuckling tests on glass fiber reinforced epoxy/clay nanocomposite cylindrical shells are described. Experimental tests were performed according to ASTM standards using an instron testing machine. The cylindrical shells used in the experiment are made from glass/epoxy by filament winding processing. The matrix of the nanocomposite has been obtained by adding 0%, 2%, 5%, 10% nanoclays in weight into epoxy matrix. Different aspects of manufacturing that include tooling and other processing aspects are presented in this paper. The diagrams of axial load versus displacement are recorded in real time during the tests. The test results show the strength capacity of these structures to work in the buckling and post-buckling range. It was found that the buckling load of nanocomposites increasee with increasing clay content. The buckling loads of test are compared with analytical solution. The results of compression tests indicate the cylinders buckled at 64 to 92% of load predicted by classical linear analysis. Results are summarized to identify the performance of using nanoclay materials. Conclusions are drawn on the efficacies of performance of nanoclay materials.