Preparation, Characterization, and Modeling of Carbon Nanofiber/Epoxy Nanocomposites

Abstract

There is a lack of systematic investigations on both mechanical and electrical properties of carbon nanofiber (CNF)-reinforced epoxy matrix nanocomposites. In this paper, an in-depth study of both static and dynamic mechanical behaviors and electrical properties of CNF/epoxy nanocomposites with various contents of CNFs is provided. A modified Halpin-Tsai equation is used to evaluate the Young's modulus and storage modulus of the nanocomposites. The values of Young's modulus predicted using this method account for the effect of the CNF agglomeration and fit well with those obtained experimentally. The results show that the highest tensile strength is found in the epoxy nanocomposite with a 1.0 wt% CNFs. The alternate-current (AC) electrical properties of the CNF/epoxy nanocomposites exhibit a typical insulator-conductor transition. The conductivity increases by four orders of magnitude with the addition of 0.1 wt% (0.058 vol%) CNFs and by ten orders of magnitude for nanocomposites with CNF volume fractions higher than 1.0 wt% (0.578 vol%). The percolation threshold (i.e., the critical CNF volume fraction) is found to be at 0.057 vol%.

Statistical evaluation of the effect of carbon nanofibre content on tribological properties of epoxy nanocomposites

“…In this context, the uniformity in distribution of CNFs within the CNF epoxy nanocomposites is dependent upon the filler content, as shown in an earlier study. 16 Agglomeration of CNFs was reported beyond 1.0 wt %, which is slightly lower than the apparent filler content in our study (2.5 wt %). This discord could be a result of differences in the procedure of nanocomposite preparation between the two studies.…”

Mechanical property characterization of carbon nanofiber/epoxy nanocomposites reinforced by GMA-grafted UHMWPE fibers

“…The better fiber-matrix interfacial bonding due to modifications and the existence of CNFs in epoxy change the fairly flat fracture planes of neat composites to river band cleavage planes, resulting in more regions capable of absorbing and dissipating the fracture energy, which leads to a higher crack initiation and propagation resistance [6,21,22].…”

Improvement of impact-resistant property of glass fiber-reinforced composites by carbon nanotube-modified epoxy and pre-stretched fiber fabrics

“…The MWCNT reinforcing effect of storage modulus is presented in Fig. 3a, and the [28,29]. The MWCNT-modified GFRPs showed retarded higher peaks of loss modulus (Fig.…”