Multi-scale numerical simulations of thermal expansion properties of CNT-reinforced nanocomposites

In this work, the thermal expansion properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced nanocomposites with CNT content ranging from 1 to 15 wt% were evaluated using a multi-scale numerical approach, in which the effects of two parameters, i.e., temperature and CNT content, were investigated extensively. For all CNT contents, the obtained results clearly revealed that within a wide low-temperature range (30°C ~ 62°C), thermal contraction is observed, while thermal expansion occurs in a high-temperature range (62°C ~ 120°C). It was found that at any specified CNT content, the thermal expansion properties vary with temperature - as temperature increases, the thermal expansion rate increases linearly. However, at a specified temperature, the absolute value of the thermal expansion rate decreases nonlinearly as the CNT content increases. Moreover, the results provided by the present multi-scale numerical model were in good agreement with those obtained from the corresponding theoretical analyses and experimental measurements in this work, which indicates that this multi-scale numerical approach provides a powerful tool to evaluate the thermal expansion properties of any type of CNT/polymer nanocomposites and therefore promotes the understanding on the thermal behaviors of CNT/polymer nanocomposites for their applications in temperature sensors, nanoelectronics devices, etc.     

Frequency dispersion of love waves in a piezoelectric nanofilm bonded on a semi-infinite elastic substrate

Research on the propagation of elastic waves in piezoelectric nanostructures is very limited. The frequency dispersion of Love waves in layered piezoelectric nanostructures has not yet been reported when surface effects are taken into account. Based on the surface elasticity theory, the propagation of Love waves with surface effects in a structure consisting of a nanosized piezoelectric film and a semi-infinite elastic substrate is investigated focusing on the frequency dispersion curves of different modes. The results show that under the electrically-open conditions, surface effects give rise to the dependence of Love wave dispersion on the film thickness when the thickness of the piezoelectric film reduces to nanometers. For a given wave frequency, phase velocity of Love waves in all dispersion modes exhibit obvious toward shift as the film thickness decreases or the surface parameters increase. Moreover, there may exist a cut-off frequency in the first mode dispersion below which Love waves will be evanescent in the structure due to surface effects. The cut-off frequency depends on the film thickness, the surface parameters and the bulk material properties.     

Numerical Simulations on Piezoresistivity of CNT/Polymer Based Nanocomposites

In this work, we propose a 3 dimensional (3D) numerical model to predict the piezoresistivity behaviors of a nanocomposite material made from an insulating polymer filled by carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This material is very hopeful for its application in highly sensitive strain sensor by measuring its piezoresistivity, i.e., the ratio of resistance change versus applied strain. In this numerical approach, a 3D resistor network model is firstly proposed to predict the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite with a large amount of randomly dispersed CNTs under the zero strain state. By focusing on the fact that the piezoresistivity of the nanocomposite sensor is largely influenced by the tunneling effects among neighboring CNTs, we modify this 3D resistor network model by adding the tunneling resistance between those neighboring CNTs within the cut-off distance of tunneling effect, i.e., 1.0 nm in this study. The predicted electrical conductivity by this modified 3D resistor network model is verified experimentally. Furthermore, to analyze the piezoresistivity of the nanocomposite sensor under various strain levels, this modified 3D resistor network model is further combined with a fiber reorientation model, which is used to track the orientation and network change of rigid-body CNTs in the nanocomposite under applied strain. This combined model is employed to predict the piezoresistivity of the nanocomposite iteratively corresponding to various strain levels with the experimental verifications. Some key parameters, which control the piezoresistivity behavior, such as, cross-sectional area of tunnel current, height of barrier, orientation of CNTs, and electrical conductivity of CNTs and other nanofillers, are systematically investigated. The obtained results are very valuable, which can provide guidance for designing the strain sensor of this nanocomposite with enhanced sensitivity.     

A New Inverse Algorithm for Tomographic Reconstruction of Damage Images Using Lamb Waves

Lamb wave tomography (LWT) is a potential and efficient technique for non-destructive tomographic reconstruction of damage images in structural components or materials. A new two-stage inverse algorithm with a small amount of scanning data for quickly reconstructing damage images in aluminum and CFRP laminated plates was proposed in this paper. Due to its high sensitivity to damages, the amplitude decrease of transmitted Lamb waves after travelling through the inspected region was employed as a key signal parameter related to the attenuation of Lamb waves in propagation routes. A through-thickness circular hole and a through-thickness elliptical hole in two aluminum plates, and an impact-induced invisible internal delamination in a CFRP laminated plate were used to validate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method. It was concluded that the present new algorithm was capable of reconstructing the images of the above mentioned various damages successfully with much less experimental data compared with those needed by some traditional techniques.