Effects of the carbon nanotube distribution on the macroscopic stiffness

• Main Authors: Afrooz, Iman Eslami, Ochsner, Andreas, Rahmandoust, Moones
• Format: Article
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/46901/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2011.08.003
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Having extremely high stiffness and low specific weight, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been known recently as perfect reinforcing fibers in nanotechnology. They can improve the stiffness and strength of nanocomposites by being used as reinforcing elements for example in polymer matrices. The corresponding properties of the fibers and matrix, such as volume fraction and aspect ratio are some of the significant factors in the characterization of mechanical properties of CNT reinforced composites. In recent years, the way in which fibers are distributed inside the matrix, in terms of randomness, has introduced another important factor in characterizing the mechanical properties of such composites.