Geopolymer matrix composites (GMC) have the potential to bridge the processing performance gap between polymer matrix and ceramic matrix composites. Yet one drawback of GMCs is their extreme brittleness and weak inter-laminar shear strength. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Silicon Carbide Whisker (SCW) nano-filler on the mechanical performance of neat unreinforced geopolymer and unidirectional fiber reinforced GMCs containing variations in fiber surface chemistry. In order to evaluate, neat and SCW populated geopolymer matrices were fabricated for comparison. Nextel 610 fiber reinforced GMCs were also fabricated with SCW for comparison to GMCs without the SCW nano-filler. The effect of the nano-filler was evaluated using three-point flexural methods to obtain strength and fracture toughness (K_IC). Results indicate that the addition of SCWs up to 4 vol% improved Mode-I fracture toughness of the baseline geopolymer matrix by 113%. The improvements to the neat matrix also resulted in improved flexural strength, inter-laminar shear strength, and delamination resistance of the continuous fiber reinforced composites.

地聚合物基复合材料（GMC）有潜力弥合聚合物基和陶瓷基复合材料之间的加工性能差距。GMC的一个缺点是其极脆性和薄层间剪切强度。这项研究的目的是评估碳化硅晶须（SCW）纳米填料对纯净的未增强地质聚合物和包含纤维表面化学变化的单向纤维增强GMC的机械性能的有效性。为了进行评估，制作了纯净和SCW填充的地质聚合物基质进行比较。Nextel 610纤维增强的GMC也是用SCW制成的，与没有SCW纳米填料的GMC进行比较。使用三点弯曲法评估纳米填料的效果，以获得强度和断裂韧性（K _IC）。结果表明，最多添加4％（体积）的SCW，可使基础地质聚合物基质的I型断裂韧性提高113％。对纯净基质的改进还导致连续纤维增强复合材料的抗弯强度，层间剪切强度和抗分层性提高。