• Composites Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.21-26
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• 2005

Nondestructive damage sensing and load transfer mechanisms of carbon nanotube (CNT) and nanofiber (CNF)/epoxy composites have been investigated by using electro-micromechanical technique. The electrospun PVDF nanofibers were also prepared as a piezoelectric sensor. The electro-micromechanical techniques were applied to evaluate sensing response of carbon nanocomposites by measuring electrical resistance under an uniform cyclic loading. Composites with higher volume content of CNT showed significantly higher tensile properties than neat and low volume$\%$ CNT composites. CNT composites showed humidity sensing within limited temperature range. CNT composites with smaller aspect ratio showed higher apparent modulus due to high volume content in case of shorter aspect ratio. Thermal treated electrospun PVDF nanofiber showed higher mechanical properties than the untreated case due to crystallinity increase, whereas load sensing decreased in heat treated case. Electrospun PVDF nanofiber web also showed sensing effect on humidity and temperature as well as stress transferring. Nanocomposites and electrospun PVDF nanofiber web can be applicable for sensing application.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.285-290
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• 2004

Nondestructive damage sensitivity of carbon nanotube(CNT) and nanofiber (CNF)/epoxy composites with their adding contents was investigated using electro-micromechanical technique. Carbon black (CB) was used only for the comparison with CNT and CNF. The fracture of carbon fiber was detected by acoustic emission (AE), which was correlated to the change in electrical resistance, ΔR under double-matrix composites (DMC) test. Stress sensing on carbon nanocomposites was performed by electro-pullout test under uniform cyclic loading. At the same volume fraction, the damage sensitivity for fiber fracture, matrix deformation and stress sensing were highest for CNT/epoxy composite, whereas for CB/epoxy composite they were the lowest among three carbon nanomaterials (CNMs). Damage sensitivity was correlated with morphological observation of carbon nanocomposites. Homogeneous dispersion among CNMs could be keying parameters for better damage monitoring. In this study, damage sensing of carbon nanocomposites could be evaluated well nondestructively by the electrical resistance measurement with AE.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.411-422
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• 2010

Self-sensing on micro-failure, dispersion degree and relating properties, of carbon nanotube(CNT)/epoxy composites, were investigated using wettability, electro-micromechanical technique with acoustic emission(AE). Specimens were prepared from neat epoxy as well as composites with untreated and acid-treated CNT. Degree of dispersion was evaluated comparatively by measuring volumetric electrical resistivity and its standard deviation. Apparent modulus containing the stress transfer was higher for acid-treated CNT composite than for the untreated case. Applied cyclic loading responded well for a single carbon fiber/CNT-epoxy composite by the change in contact resistivity. The interfacial shear strength between a single carbon fiber and CNT-epoxy, determined in a fiber pullout test, was lower than that between a single carbon fiber and neat epoxy. Regarding on micro-damage sensing using electrical resistivity measurement with AE, the stepwise increment in electrical resistivity was observed for a single carbon fiber/CNT -epoxy composite. On the other hand, electrical resistivity increased infinitely right after the first carbon fiber breaks for a single carbon fiber/neat epoxy composite. The occurrence of AE events of added CNT composites was much higher than the neat epoxy case, due to micro failure at the interfaces by added CNTs.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.778-783
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• 1999

The effect of carbon fiber orientation on the tribological properties of carbon fiber/epoxy composites used as a reflecting material for the electromagnetic wave has been investigated. It was found that the carbon fiber/epoxy composite which slides normal to prepreg lay-up direction had less friction and wear that those slides parallel to prepreg fiber lay-up direction due to the increase of delamination between carbon fiber and epoxy. Composite with unidirectional orientation($0/0^{\circ}$) had higher tribological properties than those with multidirectional orientation($0/45/90/-45^{\circ}$ and $0/90^{\circ}$) when the sliding direction was normal to prepreg lay-up direction. This was caused by the debonding between carbon fiber and epoxy which is proportional to contact area between the sliding surface and carbon fiber. Opposite results have been found when the sliding direction was parallel to prepreg lay-up direction due tot he tensile force applied on carbon fiber. In addition, it was shown that wear factor increased with increasing sliding velocity but the friction coefficient did not depend upon the sliding velocity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.64-68
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• 1998

본 연구에서는 다양한 종류의 섬유를 일방향으로 배향시켜 제작한 복합재료의 트라이볼로지 연구를 수행하였으며 특히 섬유의 배향과 활주속도가 트라이볼로지 성질에 미치는 영향을 연구하였다. 실험에 쓰인 시편은 유리 섬유, 아라미드 섬유, 그리고 고탄성 탄소 섬유를 보강재료로 에폭시 수지를 모재로 사용한 일방향섬유 복합재료이며 각각의 시편을 스테인레스 강 상대 마찰면에 마찰시켜 마모량과 마찰 계수를 구하였다. 실험조건으로 사용한 여러 활주속도에서 탄소섬유복합재료가 모든 섬유배열방향에서 아라미드섬유복합재료와 유리섬유 복합재료보다 마모율과 마찰계수가 낮은 경향을 보였으며 특히 높은 속도에서는 탄소섬유복합재료의 특성이 뛰어남을 알 수 있었다.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2004

The studies of particulate reinforced composites have been conducted for many years. The nanocomposites to be studied vigorously in recent years are one of them. We fabricated and studied multi-walled carbon nanotube(MWNT)/epoxy composites which may be useful as matrix for continuous fiber-reinforced composites. We investigated tensile properties of MWNT/epoxy composites as a function of MWNT concentration, which were prepared by the fabrication method established in this study. Tensile stiffness and strength increased 19% at 0.5 wt% and 12% at 0.2 wt%, respectively. We observed the reaggregation phenomenon of MWNTS during curing, which should be controlled to obtain higher tensile properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2021

Carbon/epoxy composite bipolar plate (BP) is a BP that is likely to replace existing graphite bipolar plate of vanadium redox flow cell (VRFB) due to its high mechanical properties and productivity. Multi-functional carbon/epoxy composite BP requires graphite coating or additional surface treatment to reduce interfacial contact resistance (ICR). However, the expanded graphite coating has the disadvantage of having low durability under VRFB operating conditions, and the surface treatments incur additional costs. In this work, an excessive resin absorption method is developed, which uniformly removes the resin rich area on the surface of the BP to expose carbon fibers by applying polyester fabric. This method not only reduces ICR by exposing carbon fibers to BP surfaces, but also forms a unique ditch pattern that can effectively hold carbon felt electrodes in place. The acidic environmental durability, mechanical properties, and gas permeability of the developed carbon/epoxy composite BP are experimentally verified.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2006

MWNT(multi-walled carbon nanotube)-filled plain-weave glass/epoxy composites were fabricated and electromagnetic characteristics of the composites were investigated. The observation of the microstructures of the composites revealed that MWNTs are mostly distributed in matrix rich region and the interface between glass fiber yarns in warp and fill direction. The permittivity of the composites, measured in X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz) frequency range, increased with weight fraction of MWNTs and remained almost constant with frequency. The measured permittivity was used to investigate the reflection loss of radar absorbing structures (RAS) composed of MWNT-filled composites according to thickness and a RAS were constructed with 10 dB absorbing bandwidth 4.2 GHz and 3.3 mm in thickness.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.11-16
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• 2011

Retention of interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of polymer composites at cryogenic temperature application is very important. In this work, single carbon tiber reinforced epoxy compositc was used to evaluate IFSS and apparent modulus under room and cryogenic temperatures. The property change of carbon and selected epoxy for particularly cryogenic temperature application were tested in tension and compression. Tensile strength and elongation of carbon fiber decreased at cryogenic temperature, whereas tensile modulus was almost same. On the other hand, epoxy matrix showed the increased tensile strength but decreased elongation. It can be due to maximum thermal contraction existing free volume in cryogenic temperature. IFSS increased up to $-10^{\circ}C$ and then decreased steadily. However, IFSS at cryogenic temperature was still similar to that at room temperature. This result is very useful to cryogenic application since selected epoxy toughness and interfacial adhesion can keep at such low temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2009

Recently, the amount of thermosetting plastic wastes has increased with the production of reinforced plastic composites and causes serious environmental problems. The epoxy resins, one of the versatile thermosetting plastics with excellent properties, cannot be melted down and remolded as what is done in the thermoplastic industry. In this research, a series of experiments that decompose epoxy resin and recover carbon fibers from carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites applied to railway vehicles was performed. We experimentally examined various decomposition processes and compared their decomposition efficiencies and mechanical property of recovered carbon fibers. For the prevention of tangle of recovered carbon fibers, each composites specimen was fixed with a Teflon supporter and no mechanical mixing was applied. Decomposition products were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS), and universal testing machine (UTM). Carbon fibers could be completely recovered from decomposition process using nitric acid aqueous solution, liquid-phase thermal cracking and pyrolysis. The tensile strength losses of the recovered carbon fibers were less than 4%.