• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.115-133
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• 2011

Fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPs) are being increasingly used for a wide range of engineering applications owing to their high specific strength and stiffness. However, their through-the-thickness performance lacks some of the most demanding physical and mechanical property requirements for structural applications, such as aerospace vehicles and military components. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs), due to their excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, offer great promise to improve the weak properties in the thickness direction and impart multi-functionality without substantial weight addition to FRPs. This paper reviews the progress made to date on i) the techniques developed for integration of CNTs/ CNFs into FRPs, and ii) the effects of the addition of these nanofillers on the interlaminar properties, such as such interlaminar shear strength, interlaminar fracture toughness and impact damage resistance and tolerance, of FRPs. The key challenges and future prospects in the development of multiscale CNT-FRP composites for advanced applications are also highlighted.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.325-331
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• 2010

This study investigates the effect of filler content (wt%), presence of interphase and agglomerates on the effective Young's modulus of polypropylene (PP) based nanocomposites reinforced with exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets ($xGnP^{TM}$) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The Young's modulus of the composites is determined using tensile testing based on ASTM D638. The reinforcement/polymer interphase is characterized in terms of width and mechanical properties using atomic force microscopy which is also used to investigate the presence and size of agglomerates. It is found that the interphase has an average width of ~30 nm and modulus in the range of 5 to 12 GPa. The Halpin-Tsai micromechanical model is modified to account for the effect of interphase and filler agglomerates and the model predictions for the effective modulus of the composites are compared to the experimental data. The presented results highlight the need of considering various experimentally observed filler characteristics such as agglomerate size and aspect ratio and presence and properties of interphase in the micromechanical models in order to develop better design tools to fabricate multifunctional polymer nanocomposites with engineered properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2017

In this paper, the inter-lamina shear strength (ILSS) of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) reinforced carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) and thin-ply composites were verified under low earth orbit (LEO) space environment. CFRP, MWNT reinforced CFRP, thin-ply CFRP and MWNT reinforced thin-ply CFRP were tested after aging by using accelerated ground simulation equipment. The used ground simulation equipment can simulate high vacuum ($2.5{\times}10^{-6}torr$), atomic oxygen (AO, $9.15{\times}10^{14}atoms/cm^2{\cdot}s$), ultraviolet light (UV, 200 nm wave length) and thermal cycling ($-70{\sim}100^{\circ}C$) simultaneously. The duration of aging experiment was twenty hours, which is an equivalent duration to that of STS-4 space shuttle condition. After the aging experiment, ILSS were measured at room temperature ($27^{\circ}C$), high temperature ($100^{\circ}C$) and low temperature ($-100^{\circ}C$) to verify the effect of operation temperature. The MWNT and thin-ply shows good improvement of ILSS at ground condition especially with the thin-ply. And after LEO exposure large degradation of ILSS was observed at MWNT added composite due to the thermal cycle. And the degradation rate was much higher under the high temperature condition. But, at the low temperature condition, the ILSS was largely recovered due to the matrix toughening effect.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1237-1240
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• 2010

The mechanical properties of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs)-reinforced epoxy matrix composites with different weight percentages of MWNTs have been investigated. Also, the morphologies and failure behaviors of the composites after mechanical tests are studied by SEM and TEM analyses. As a result, the addition of MWNTs into the epoxy matrix has a remarkable effect on the mechanical properties. And the fracture surfaces of MWNTs/epoxy composites after flexural strength tests show different failure mechanisms for the composites under different nanotube contents. Also, a chemical functionalization of MWNTs can be a useful tool to improve the dispersion of the nanotubes in an epoxy system, resulting in increasing the mechanical properties of the composite materials studied.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.133-141
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• 2023

Based on the third-order shear deformation theory, the wave propagations in doubly curved spherical- and cylindrical- panels reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are firstly investigated in present work. The coupled equations of wave propagation for the carbon nanotubes reinforced composite (CNTRC) doubly curved panels are established. Then, combined with the harmonic balance method, the eigenvalue technique is adopted to simulate the velocity-wave number curves of the CNTRC doubly curved panels. In the end, numerical results are showed to discuss the effects of the impact of key parameters including the volume fraction, different shell types (including spherical (R₁=R₂=R) and cylindrical (R₁=R, R₂=→∞)), wave number as well as modal number on the sensitivity of elastic waves propagating in CNTRC doubly curved shells.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2012

Polymer composites which have electrical properties have been studied in various industries. The Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) are thought to be reinforcements for polymers because of their high aspect ratio and specially mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. We introduced MWCNT and impact modifier in order to improve thermal and mechanical properties of Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and give electric characteristic to PPS. The thermal properties were investigated by Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphology, mechanical properties and electrical characteristic were performed by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Izod impact tester and surface resistance meter. As a result, we could find that the PPS/MWCNT composites have high conductivity and good mechanical properties than neat PPS resin.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.3-9
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• 2013

Aluminum Oxide($Al_2O_3$) ceramics are excellent candidates for such applications due to their outstanding mechanical, thermal, and tribological properties. However, they are difficult to machine using conventional mechanical methods. Carbon fillers, such as carbon nanotubes(CNT) and graphene nanoplatelets(GNP)can be dispersed in a ceramic matrix to improve the mechanical and electrical properties. In this study, CNT and Graphene reinforced hybrid ceramic composites were fabricated using the spark plasma sintering method at a temperature of $1,500^{\circ}C$, pressure of 40 MPa, and soaking time of 10min. Besides this, the material properties such as microstructure, crystal structure, hardness, and electrical conductivity were analyzed using FE-SEM, XRD, Vickers, and the 4-point probe method. A micro machining test was carried out to compare the effects of the material properties and the machining performance for CNT and Graphene reinforced ceramic composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.35-38
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• 2004

Graphite nanofiber (GNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT) are novel fiber reinforcing materials which have outstanding physical and mechanical properties. Aluminum matrix composites reinforced graphite nanofiber were fabricated by conventional powder metallurgy (PM) method. The composites were prepared through ultrasonication, ball milling, and hot isostatic pressing. A uniform distribution of GNF in aluminum matrix could be obtained. To measure the mechanical properties of GNF-Al composites testings were done in indentation and compression. The compressive strength was enhanced according to reinforcing graphite nanofiber while the hardness was decreased. This study makes the high performance composites for future applications.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.381-391
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• 2023

The aim of this work is to analyze and predict the wave propagation behavior of the carbon nanotube reinforced composites (CNTRC) beams within the framework of various higher order shear deformation beam theory. Using the Euler-Lagrange principle, the wave equations for CNTRC beams are derived, where the determining factor is to make the determinant equal to zero. Based on the eigenvalue method, the relationship between wave number and circular frequency is obtained. Furthermore, the phase and group velocities during wave propagation are obtained as a function of wave number, and the material properties of CNTRC beams are estimated by the mixture rule. In this paper, various higher order shear beam theory including Euler beam theory, Timoshenko beam theory and other beam theories are mainly adopted to analyze the wave propagation problem of the CNTRC beams, and by this way, we conduct a comparative analysis to verify the correctness of this paper. The mathematical model provided in this paper is verified numerically by comparing it with some existing results. We further investigate the effects of different enhancement modes of CNTs, volume fraction of CNTs, spring factor and other aspects on the wave propagation behaviors of the CNTRC beams.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 2021

In order to save the energy in vehicles using renewable energy, it is necessary to reduce the weight of parts with polymer matrix composites. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is the nano-scale reinforcement used to increase the interlaminar strength of fiber reinforced composites or enhance the fracture toughness of polymer. However, since the degree of improvement in mechanical properties varies according to the various experimental conditions such as shape of reinforcement, types of matrix and dispersion of reinforcement, research to find the optimal conditions is essentially needed. In this study, CNT/epoxy composites with different CNT concentration were fabricated under the same conditions, and the optimal CNT content (2 wt%) was found through Mode 1 fracture toughness test. Furthermore, through optical microscopy, it was confirmed that the fracture toughness was rather decreased due to the CNT aggregation when the CNT content exceeded 2 wt%.