skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

Title: Interlaminar fracture toughness of hybrid carbon fiber‐carbon nanotubes‐reinforced polymer composites

In this study, a relatively low temperature synthesis technique; graphitic structure by design (GSD), was employed to grow multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) over carbon fiber fabrics. The MWCNTs forests were grown into two different morphologies, uniform and patterned. Hybrid carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer composites (CFRPs) were fabricated based on the hybrid reinforcement. Double cantilever beam tests were performed to investigate the effect of the surface grown nano‐reinforcements on the Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness (GIc) of the hybrid CFRPs. Results revealed that the surface grown MWCNTs enhanced the GIcof the CFRPs by 22 and 32%, via uniform and checkerboard‐patterned growth morphologies, respectively. Fractography was also employed to reveal the MWCNTs’ role in interlaminar crack stoppage and deflection resulting in improving GIcof the hybrid CFRPs. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:E1470–E1478, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers

  more » « less
NSF-PAR ID:
10461903
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Polymer Composites
Volume:
40
Issue:
S2
ISSN:
0272-8397
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ( , Nanomaterials)
    null (Ed.)
    In this investigation, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were grown over carbon fiber fabrics via a relatively nondestructive synthesis technique. The MWCNTs patches were grown into three different topologies: uniform, fine patterned and coarse patterned. Hybrid carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (CFRPs) were fabricated based on the patterned reinforcements. Tensile tests, dynamic mechanical thermal analyses (DMTA) and flexure load relaxation tests were carried out to investigate the effect of the patterned nano-reinforcement on the static, dynamic, glass transition, and viscoelastic performance of the hybrid composites. Results revealed that the hybrid composite based on fine-patterned topology achieved better performance over all other configurations as it exhibited about 19% improvement in both the strength and modulus over the reference composite with no MWCNTs. Additionally, the increase in glass transition for this composite was as high as 13%. The damping parameter (tan δ) was improved by 46%. The stress relaxation results underlined the importance of patterned MWCNTs in minimizing the stress decay at elevated temperatures and loading conditions. Utilizing patterned MWCNTs topology significantly reduced the stress decay percentage at the thermomechanical conditions 60 MPa and 75 °C from 16.7% to 7.8%. These improvements are attributed to both the enhanced adhesion and large interface area by placing MWCNTs and by inducing an interlocking mechanism that allows the interaction of the three constituents in load transfer, crack deflection and hindering undesired viscoelastic deformations under different thermomechanical loadings. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ( , SAMPE 2019 Proceedings, May 20-23, Charlotte, NC.)
    In this study, unidirectional carbon fiber prepregs that contain long carbon nanofiber (CNF) z threads as a through-thickness (z-directional) reinforcement were manufactured. The CNF z threads are long enough to thread through multiple carbon fiber (CF) arrays, which creates a multi-scale CNF/CF/resin-composite. The CNF z-threaded prepregs were manufactured using an electric-field aligned flow-transferring process. It was hypothesized that the CNF z-threads with the zig-zag threading pattern reinforces the interlaminar and intralaminar regions of the CFRP laminate thus improve the compressive strength by reducing the chance of carbon fiber buckling. Compressive testing was performed per modified version of ASTM D695 (i.e., SACMA SRM 1R 94) to evaluate the compressive strength of the CNF z-threaded CFRP (ZT-CFRP) laminates. The samples were manufactured using AS4 carbon fibers, EPON 862/Epikure-W resin and a 1wt% CNF content. ZT-CFRP testing results were compared with unaligned CNF-modified CFRP (UA-CFRP) and unmodified CFRP samples to investigate the impact of the CNF z-threads on the compressive strength. Results showed an increase of ~15% for the compressive strength of ZT CFRPs, whereas the UA-CFRPs experienced a decrease of ~8% when compared to unmodified CFRPs. It was concluded that CNF/carbon fiber interlocking stops and delays crack growth, and helps to stabilize carbon fibers from further buckling. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ( , Proceedings of the American Society for Composites - 37th Technical Conference, ASC 2022)
    Reinforcing composite materials with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has the potential to improve mechanical and/or multifunctional properties due to their nano-size. Research has been done on using CNTs to reinforce the interlaminar strength of carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRPs), but most of the previous work is about randomly oriented carbon nanotubes. Currently, one of the main challenges regarding CNT integration into polymers is mitigating their agglomeration and controlling their dispersion in the polymer matrix. By aligning CNTs with an external field, more tailored structure control can be achieved, and a better understanding of how CNT agglomeration and dispersion relate to external field application and CNT concentration is needed. In this work, we studied the effects of magnetic field magnitude, CNT concentration, and matrix viscosity on CNT agglomeration and morphology. We measured the fracture toughness reinforcement of epoxy-CNT nanocomposites at various CNT concentrations (0.1 vol.% and 0.5 vol.%), magnetic field magnitudes (no field, 180 G, and 300 G), and matrix viscosities (older epoxy-hardener system with higher viscosity and newer epoxy-hardener system with lower viscosity). Our results demonstrated that aligning CNTs with a magnetic field can lead to extra reinforcement when compared to using randomly oriented CNTs if the field magnitude, CNT concentration, and matrix viscosity are selected accordingly. The maximum fracture toughness reinforcement achieved with the higher viscosity epoxy-hardener system (~72%) was with 0.5 vol.% of CNTs with a 180 G field, whereas the maximum reinforcement with the lower viscosity epoxy-hardener system (~62%) was observed for the samples fabricated with 0.1 vol.% of randomly oriented CNTs. COMSOL simulations were also conducted to understand the behavior of CNT agglomeration and alignment at different field magnitudes and CNT concentrations, and were compared with the experimental results. To maximize CNT reinforcement, more work needs to be conducted to address the challenge of CNT agglomeration and dispersion control in a polymer matrix, such as a more in-depth study of how different field magnitudes affect fracture toughness improvement and new methods to improve CNT dispersion. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ( , Proceedings Of The American Society for Composites-Thirty-Seventh Technical Conference)

    Depositing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRPs) is challenging because of the need for complicated lab-scale processes and toxic chemical dispersants that makes conventional means of processing less compatible with existing industrial procedures for large-scale applications. In this work, a scalable supercritical CO2-assisted atomization technique is used to effectively deposit hybrid CNTs in CFRPs allowing them to boost their functionality and tailor the microstructure. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are utilized to create hybrid nanostructures with CNTs (CNC bonded CNT) that enables stabilization of CNTs in nontoxic media, i.e., water, and this promotes the scalability of the process. According to Zeta potential values, CNCs successfully stabilize CNTs in water suspension. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs show hybrid CNC bonded CNTs are homogeneously dispersed on the carbon fiber surface. According to the in-situ bending test under the optical microscope, crack propagation is hindered by engineered hybrid CNT nanostructures in the modified CFRP whereas neat CFRP exhibits low crack growth resistance due to the uninterrupted crack propagation in the continuous epoxy matrix. Our results imply that this strategy probes the importance of new controlled manufacturing of hybrid nanostructures through evaporation‑induced self‑assembly of nanocolloidal droplets, and allows for tailoring of the desired properties of nanostructured composites.

     
    more » « less
  5. ( , Proceedings of the American Society for Composites—Thirty-Sixth Technical Conference on Composite Materials)
    Cellulose nanocrystal (CNCs) assisted carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) were used to modify the interfacial region of carbon fiber (CF) and polymer matrix to strengthen the properties of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). Before transferring CNC-CNTs and CNC-GnPs on the CF surface by an immersion coating method, the nanomaterials were dispersed in DI water homogeneously by using probe sonication technique without additives. The results showed that the addition of CNC-CNT and CNC-GnP adjusted the interfacial chemistry of CFRP with the formation of polar groups. Furthermore, according to the single fiber fragmentation test (SFFT), the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of CNC-GnP 6:1 and CNC-CNT 10:1 added CFRP increased to 55 MPa and 64 MPa due to modified interfacial chemistry by the incorporation of the nanomaterials. This processing technique also resulted in improvement in interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) in CFRPs from 35 MPa (neat composite) to 45 (CNC-GnP 6:1) MPa and 52 MPa (CNC-CNT 10:1). 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email