Issue 78

R. Shivashankar et alii, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 78 (2026) 454-473; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.78.26

Synergistic effect of Silicon Nitride nanoparticles and Hemp/Basalt hybrid reinforcement on mechanical integrity and fracture resistance of epoxy composites Shivashankar R Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore-570002, India shivashankar.r@vvce.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8062-5198 Kiran R, Savitha D C, Ravikumar V, Asha P B Department of Mechanical Engineering, Global Academy of Technology, Bengaluru-560098, India kiran.r@gat.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1308-4429 savitha.dc@gat.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4312-122X v.ravikumar@gat.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8763-1520 ashapb@gat.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7669-625X Anand A Department of Mechanical Engineering, The National Institute of Engineering, South Campus, Mysore-570008, India anand@nie.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0332-2243 Suresha B Department of Mechanical Engineering, JSS Science and Technology University, Mysuru -570006, Karnataka, India sureshab@jssstuniv.in, http://orcid.org/0009-0005-3230-0264

Citation: Shivashankar, R., Kiran, R., Savitha, D. C., Ravikumar, V., Asha, P. B., Anand, A., Suresha, B., Synergistic effect of Silicon Nitride nanoparticles and Hemp/Basalt hybrid reinforcement on mechanical integrity and fracture resistance of epoxy composites, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 78 (2026) 454-473.

A BSTRACT . Polymer composites have been a subject of extensive research for lightweight, high strength and environmentally friendly applications for advanced structures and engineering. This research aims at exploring the synergistic effect of silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ) nanoparticles and alkali-/silane treated hemp/basalt (H/B) hybrid reinforcements on mechanical properties, interfacial adhesion and fracture resistance of epoxy (Ep) composites. The hemp fibers were alkali-treated with NaOH, the basalt fibers were silane treated, and the Si ₃ N ₄ nanoparticles were added up to 2 wt.%. The surface modification on the fiber and uniform dispersion of nanoparticles had a significant effect on improving the structural integrity of the composites. The

Received: 08.07.2026 Accepted: 13.09.2026 Published: 18.09.2026 Issue: 10.2026

Copyright: © 2026 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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