• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2010

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties as well as nanometer scale diameter and high aspect ratio, which make them an ideal reinforcing agent for high strength polymer composites. The functionalized CNTs are believed to be very promising in the fields such as preparation of functional and composite materials. CNT-Polymer composites are expected to have good processability characteristics of the polymer and excellent functional properties of the CNTs. However, since CNTs usually form stabilized bundles due to Van der Waals interactions, are extremely difficult to disperse and align in a polymer matrix. The biggest issues in the preparation of CNT-reinforced composites reside in efficient dispersion of CNTs into a polymer matrix, and the alignment and control of the CNTs in the matrix. There are several methods for the dispersion of nanotubes in the polymer matrix such as solution mixing, bulk mixing, melt mixing, in-situ polymerization and chemical functionalization of the carbon nanotubes, etc. These methods and preparation of high performance CNT-polymer composites are described in this review.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2024

The present experimental investigation focuses on finding optimal parametric data-set of laser micro-drilling operation with minimum taper and Heat-affected zone during laser micro-drilling of Carbon Nanotube/Epoxy-based composite materials. Experiments have been conducted as per Box-Behnken design (BBD) techniques considering cutting speed, lamp current, pulse frequency and air pressure as input process parameters. Then, the relationship between control parameters and output responses is developed using second-order nonlinear regression models. The analysis of variance test has also been performed to check the adequacy of the developed mathematical model. Using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and an Accelerated particle swarm optimization (APSO) technique, optimum process parameters are evaluated and compared. Moreover, confirmation tests are conducted with the optimal parameter settings obtained from RSM and APSO and improvement in performance parameter is noticed in each case. The optimal process parameter setting obtained from predictive RSM based APSO techniques are speed=150 (m/s), current=22 (amp), pulse frequency (3 kHz), Air pressure (1 kg/cm²) for Taper and speed=150 (m/s), current=22 (amp), pulse frequency (3 kHz), air pressure (3 kg/cm²) for HAZ. From the confirmatory experimental result, it is observed that the APSO metaheuristic algorithm performs efficiently for optimizing the responses during laser micro-drilling process of nanocomposites both in individual and multi-objective optimization.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.533-545
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• 2021

What is desirable in engineering is to bring the engineering model as close to reality as possible while the simplicity of model is also considered. In recent years, several studies have been performed on nanocomposites but some of these studies are somewhat far from reality. For example, in many of these studies, the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are assumed completely straight, flawless and uniformly distributed throughout the matrix but by studying nanocomposites, we find that this is not the case. In this paper, three steps have been taken to bring the presented models for nanocomposites closer to reality. One is that assuming the straightness of nanotubes is removed and the waviness is considered. Also, the nanotubes are not considered to be pristine and the influence of defect is included in accordance with reality. In addition, the approximation of uniform distribution of nanotubes is ignored and according to experimental observations, the effect of nanotube aggregation is considered. As far as we know, this is the first study on these three topics together in an article. Moreover, we also include the size effects in our models for nanocomposites. To show the accuracy of our models, our results are calibrated with experimental results and compared with theoretical model. For numerical examples, we present the buckling behaviors of nanocomposites including the size effects using nonlocal theory and compare the results of our models with the results of models with above-mentioned approximations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.711-731
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• 2020

This paper deals with free vibration of FG sandwich annular sector plates on Pasternak elastic foundation with different boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. The influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness, aspect ratio, internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich plates is investigated in this research work. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness of upper and bottom layers of the sandwich sectorial plates and their mechanical properties are estimated by an extended rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The core of structure is porous and the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix of core either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. A semi-analytic approach composed of 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (2D-GDQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Composites Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2015

As a new method to predict the degree of dispersion in carbon nanocomposites, the electrical resistance (ER) method has been evaluated. After CNT epoxy resin was dropped on CF tow, the change in electrical resistance of carbon fiber tow was measured to evaluate dispersion condition in CNT epoxy resin. Good dispersion of CNTs in carbon nanocomposite exhibited low change in ER due to wetted resin penetrated on CF tow. However, because CNT network was formed among CFs, non-uniform dispersion occurred due to nanoparticle filtering effect by CF tow. The change in ER for poor dispersion exhibited large ER signal change. The change in ER was used for the dispersion evaluation of CNT epoxy resin. Correlation between interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and dispersion condition by ER method was established. Good CNT dispersion in nanocomposites led to good interfacial properties of fiberreinforced nanocomposites.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.270-274
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• 2023

The stacking configuration of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, achieved via the filament winding process, exhibits distinct variations compared to conventional FRP composite stacking arrangements. Consequently, it becomes challenging to ascertain the influence of mechanical properties based on the typical stacking structures. Thus, it becomes imperative to enhance the mechanical behavior and optimize the interleaved structures to improve overall performance. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of incorporating amorphous halloysite nanotubes (A-HNTs) within different layers of five unique layer arrangements on the low-velocity impact properties of interleaved carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) structures. The low-velocity impact characteristics of the laminate were validated using a drop weight impact test, wherein the resulting impact damage modes and extent of damage were compared and evaluated under microscopic analysis. Each interleaved structure laminate according to whether nanoparticles are added was compared at impact energies of 10 J and 15 J. In the case of 10 J, the absorption energy showed a similar tendency in each structure. However, at 15 J, the absorption energy varies from structure to structure. Among them, a structure in which nanoparticles are not added exhibits the highest absorption energy. Additionally, various impact fracture modes were observed in each structure through optical microscopy.

• Composites Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.8-14
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• 2009

Interfacial evaluation of glass fiber reinforced carbon nanotube (CNT)-epoxy nanocomposite was investigated by micromechanical technique in combination with wettability test. The contact resistance of the CNT-epoxy nanocomposite was measured using a gradient specimen, containing electrical contacts with gradually-increasing spacing. The contact resistance of CNT-epoxy nanocomposites was evaluated by using the two-point method rather than the four-point method. Due to the presence of hydrophobic domains on the heterogeneous surface, the static contact angle of CNT-epoxy nanocomposite was about $120^{\circ}$, which was rather lower than that for super-hydrophobicity. For surface treated-glass fibers, the tensile strength decreased dramatically, whereas the tensile modulus exhibited little change despite the presence of flaws on the etched fiber surface. The interfacial shear strength (IFSS) between the etched glass fiber and the CNT-epoxy nanocomposites increased due to the enhanced surface energy and roughness. As the thermodynamic work of adhesion, $W_a$ increased, both the mechanical IFSS and the apparent modulus increased, which indicated the consistency with each other.