Development and Testing of Nano-Clay Composites for Pressure Pad Application

Pressure pads are used in mobile cranes and launch vehicles to distribute the reaction forces uniformly on the soil. In mobile cranes these pressure pads made on alloy steel and permanently fixed below the elephant foot through ball and socket joint. Launch vehicles are used to carry and outrigger the missiles in operating field or war field. Load distribution during the outrigger will be challenging in uneven ground surfaces and loose soils. Pressure pads add the flexibility in outriggering the missiles even in a loose soil with ground pressure of 4kg/cm2. Considering the place of application, detachable type pressure pads are used in launch vehicles. Aluminium alloy is preferred over the steel due to its less weight and easy handling. In this research study nano-clay epoxy composites are proposed as an alternate material for pressure pads of launch vehicles due to its high compression load and strength to weight ratio. The present study focused on the preparation of nano-clay epoxy composites and neat epoxy composites. The work further analyzed the deflection of composites during forward and reverse loading. Creep test was also conducted for a period of 4 hours. The test results revealed that the nano-clay composites were bearing more compressive strength with lesser weight than neat resin composites.