Abstract
Finite element method (FEM) is used to analyze the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites. Firstly, polypropylene is assumed as a viscoelastic material, while carbon nanotubes are assumed as linear elastic materials to study the effect of temperature on the mechanical properties of neat PP and CNT/PP nanocomposites. Secondly, to compare the viscoelastic properties of neat PP and CNT/PP nanocomposites, the relaxation time at a specific temperature is used to investigate the relaxation of the nanocomposites for fixed tensile displacements. Thirdly, the effect of CNT volume fraction on the viscoelastic properties of nanocomposites is studied at different temperatures. Finally, to better understand the stress distribution along the CNT axial direction, a single carbon nanotube is isolated in the matrix to compare the stress distribution with nonisolated CNTs.
Highlights
Polypropylene (PP) is used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles, and automotive components
Literature data from [7] are used to validate our model at low deformation. en, Finite element method (FEM) simulations are performed to investigate the viscoelastic properties of single-wall CNTs (SWCNT) reinforced PP nanocomposites over a range of temperatures (20, 40, 60, and 80°C) to determine the performance of these materials above room temperature which is important for engineering applications like automotive and packaging which are subjected to different temperature and long-term deformation
The relaxation time and relaxation modulus were used to depict the viscoelastic properties of polypropylene (PP) as a matrix. en, the effects of temperature (20–80°C) and single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) content (0.5–1.5 vol.%) were investigated using numerical simulations to determine the viscoelastic properties of PP and SWCNT/PP nanocomposites for uniaxial tension loading
Summary
Polypropylene (PP) is used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles, and automotive components. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering [15,16,17,18,19] Because of their high stiffness and high strength, single-wall CNTs (SWCNT) can lead to substantial increases in mechanical properties even at very low content (less than 1 wt.%) [20]. E results showed that multiwall carbon nanotubes can efficiently increase Young’s modulus, yield strength, and elongation when the composites break and when the pressurization rate is lower than 5.0 MPa/s. En, FEM simulations are performed to investigate the viscoelastic properties of SWCNT reinforced PP nanocomposites over a range of temperatures (20, 40, 60, and 80°C) to determine the performance of these materials above room temperature which is important for engineering applications like automotive and packaging which are subjected to different temperature and long-term deformation. It is assumed that the viscous behavior of PP at 20°C is negligible
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