Metal inserts for performance improvement in glass fiber‐reinforced polymer nanocomposite joints under accelerated aging conditions

In the present work, the accelerated aging of glass/epoxy composite bolted joints was carried out for performance evaluation. The woven glass fiber was used as reinforcement and an optimum wt% of nanoclay as filler was used to counter the accelerated aging attack. The bolted joint specimen and its testing fixture were designed as per ASTM D5961 considering width to hole diameter ratio (W/D) and edge to hole diameter ratio (E/D) as 6 and 5, respectively. The specimens were tested with and without the metal inserts. The specimens were given a cyclic exposure of 8 h of ultraviolet radiation (at 60°C) followed by 4 h of condensation (at 50°C), for a maximum of 500 h. The bolt torque of 0, 2, and 4 Nm were used for the failure analysis of the joint. The metal insert and nanoclay particles proved to be positive contributors for the performance of bolted joints under accelerated aging conditions.