Prediction of Effect of Nano Silica on Mechanical Properties of Epoxy– Nano Silica Nano composites using Genetic Algorithm

In this paper the effect of addition of nano silica on mechanical properties of pure epoxy such as Young’sModulus, Tensile Strength, Yield Stress and Elongation at break is investigated. The results show that by addition ofnano silica (0 to 7 weight percent) the Young’s modulus, tensile strength and yield stress first decrease (0 to 1) and thenincrease (1 to 7). Elongation first increases and then decreases. Increasing the properties may be due to strong bondingbetween nano-silica and epoxy and decreasing the properties may be due to agglomeration of nano-silica or insufficientbondings which may result the defects in crystal structure. The results show 25.66 %, 56.87 % and 45.84 % improvementin young’s modulus, yield stress and tensile strength, respectively. The numerical results are statistically analysed byMINITAB 17 software and are compared by results obtained from GA modelling code written by MATLAB software.

Keywords:

epoxy , nano silica , mechanical properties , Genetic Algorithm , statistical analysis