Please cite this article in press as: H. Ulus, et al., Boron nitride-MWCNT/epoxy hybrid nanocomposites: Preparation and mechanical properties, Appl. Surf. Sci. (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.12.070 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model APSUSC-26895; No. of Pages 6 Applied Surface Science xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Surface Science j ourna l ho me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc Boron nitride-MWCNT/epoxy hybrid nanocomposites: Preparation and mechanical properties Hasan Ulus a , Tugay Üstün a , Volkan Eskizeybek b , Ömer Sinan S ¸ ahin a , Ahmet Avcı a , Mürsel Ekrem c,∗ a Mechanical Engineering Department, Selcuk University, Konya 42075, Turkey b Materials Science and Engineering, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Canakkale 17100, Turkey c Mechanical Engineering Department, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 31 October 2013 Received in revised form 12 December 2013 Accepted 12 December 2013 Available online xxx Keywords: Boron nitride Hybrid nanocomposites Mechanical properties Multiwall carbon nanotubes a b s t r a c t In this study, production and mechanical properties of hybrid nanocomposites have been investigated. Hybrid nanocomposites are consisting of boron nitride nanoplatelets (BN) and multiwall carbon nano- tubes (MWCNT) embedded in epoxy resin. The BN and MWCNT were mixed to epoxy resin in different weight fractions and mixtures were utilized for tensile test specimen production. The synthesized BN and produced hybrid nanocomposites were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR and TGA analyses. The elasticity modulus and tensile strength values were obtained via tensile tests. The fracture morphologies were investigated after tensile test by means of scanning electron microscopy. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Polymer nanocomposite materials combining polymers and nanofiller components have attracted research attention from the academic and industrial communities due to their diverse func- tional applications, good processing and relatively low cost [1–5]. Nanocomposites are a form of composite materials in which nano- or molecular sized particles embedded into matrix materials and can result in performance improvement with very low concen- trations [6]. Hybridization with inorganic compounds has been focused on the modification of nanocomposites to improve their thermal, physical and mechanical properties [7–9]. CNTs possess a high Young’s modulus and superb electrical and thermal conductivities [10–13]. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), also called as “white graphite”, is an excellent electrical insulation, having high thermal conductivity, excellent dimension stability and desirably low dielectric loss and constant [14,15]. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have pulled attention due to their high specific surface area and utilized for modification of polymers. It is reported that [16–20] due to high specific surface area, pull- out mechanisms and interphases created between CNT and epoxy resulted in high energy dissipation. It is also reported that when ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 5554845443. E-mail addresses: mekrem@konya.edu.tr, mekrem25@hotmail.com (M. Ekrem). nano-particles used for modification of matrix of conventional composites the energy absorption characteristics change [21–23] due to good interfacial bonding. It is reported that nanofillers such as particles and platelets can change the crack propagation direc- tion and can result in stopping crack propagation and crack pinning [24]. Nanoparticles constrain the matrix deformation less than microparticles [25] and result in better ductility and toughness. On the other hand crack deflection as a result of nanosized rein- forcements in a matrix have been reported to have an important role in the toughening [26,27]. Nano-fillers, nano-particles or nano- platelets can stop the crack propagation along the original direction [18] and also result in branching which results in toughening if agglomeration is minimized [28]. Lee et al. [29] investigated the boron nitride modification on epoxy resin. It is observed that strength of epoxy resin increased while Young modulus has not changed considerably. It is reported that the highest strength increase has obtained at 0.3 wt.% BN con- tent while highest toughness increase has been obtained at 0.5 wt.% BN content. In this work, production and mechanical properties of hybrid nanocomposites have been investigated. Hybrid nanocomposites are produced by embedding boron nitride nanoplatelets (BN) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) into epoxy resin. The mechanical properties and damage formation of obtained hybrid nanocomposites were investigated by tensile test and scanning electron microscopy. 0169-4332/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.12.070