INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF CARBON NANOTUBE ORIENTATION ON THE MACROSCOPIC STIFFNESS OF NANOCOMPOSITES

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been regarded as ideal reinforcements for high-performance composites with enormous applications. Substantial improvements in mechanical properties of polymers have been attained through the addition of small amounts of carbon nanotubes. However, there are still many limitations that must be overcome in order to take full advantage of CNTs exceptional properties.In this paper, the effects of carbon nanotube orientation on the macroscopic stiffness of nanocomposites are investigated. In addition, effect of CNT/Matrix interface strength on the aligned nanotube-reinforced polymer moduli is considered. Theory of elasticity of anisotropic materials and finite element method (FEM) are used to determine the stiffness constants of nanocomposites. Nanocomposite mechanical properties are evaluated using a square 3D nanoscale Representative Volume Element (RVE). Models consisting of carbon nanotubes oriented in different directions are developed to investigate the effects of carbon nanotube orientation on mechanical properties of nanocomposite. The results indicate that nanocomposite elastic moduli strongly dependent on the orientation of dispersed nanotubes. In addition, the results of this investigation on aligned and tilted CNT-reinforced nanocomposite are compared with those presented in the literature and good agreement is observed

Keywords:

Nanocomposite , Carbon nanotube , Mechanical properties , CNT orientation