Investigation of elastic moduli of polypropylenereinforced with deformed single wall carbon nanotube based on FEM

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) demonstrate unusually high stiffness, strength and resilience, and may become an ideal reinforcing material for new composites. This paper describes a finite element formulation that is appropriate forthe numerical prediction of the mechanical behavior ofpolypropylenematrix nanocomposite.In current work it is assumed that the deformed cross sectional area of CNT is ellipse.Non-linear spring-based line elements are employed to simulate the vander Waals bonds.Elastic moduli of nanocomposites are evaluated using a representative volume element (RVE) based on the continuum mechanics and FEM.A significant enhancement in the stiffness of the polymer owing to the adding of the ECNTsis found. Addition of ECNTs in a matrix at a determined volume fraction can increase the stiffness of the composite