Effective Moduli Evaluation of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polymers Using Micromechanics |
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Authors: | Abhinav Alva Awant Bhagat |
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Affiliation: | 1. Dynamics &2. Adaptive Structures, Structural Technologies Division, CSIR National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India;3. Birla Institute of Technology &4. Science, Pilani, India |
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Abstract: | A multistep homogenization method is adopted to compute the effective moduli of carbon nanotube reinforced composites. The composite is assumed to be reinforced with isolated individual fibers and clustered fibers. A uniform agglomeration model is introduced assuming constant carbon nanotube cluster size throughout the matrix. Agglomeration volume fraction—a critical parameter in the simulation—is considered to be an explicit function of inter-particle distance and quality of dispersion of fibers. The micromechanics model also incorporates random fiber orientation using a statistical approach. It is seen that these parameters reduce the stiffening effect of carbon nanotubes significantly in the composite. |
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Keywords: | micromechanics nanocomposites carbon nanotubes (CNTs) elastic modulus method of cells (MOC) |
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