Abstract
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic composites (CFRPs) possess superior elastic mechanical properties. However, CFRPs lack sufficient viscoelastic performance, such as damping and creep resistance. In an effort to improve these properties, in this study, hybrid multiscale composites with various combinations of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were deposited at the interface of carbon fiber laminae. The viscoelastic properties of the corresponding composites were characterized via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) during both temperature and frequency sweeps. The creep activation energy for each composite configuration was also calculated. The DMA temperature sweep analysis reported that the composite incorporating both ZnO and CNTs exhibited the highest improvements in all viscoelastic properties. This composite also attained better creep resistance, evident by the highest activation energy. The DMA frequency sweep analysis revealed that composites incorporating a single nanofiller improves the viscoelastic properties more than the combined nanofiller composite. Despite these improvements in the viscoelastic properties, the non-uniform dispersion and agglomerations of the nanofillers affected some of the elastic properties negatively, such as the storage modulus.
Highlights
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic composites (CFRPs) have manifested their superior strength and stiffness capabilities in various industries, such as aerospace, civil infrastructure, and marine and automotive transportations [1,2]
Thermal activation energy is an essential parameter necessary to determine creep in all these models. Determination of this parameter is crucial for modeling creep behavior in the new hierarchical composites [46]. This investigation focuses on revealing the changes in the dynamic mechanical properties and activation energy of a woven CFRP as consequences of adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO) nanofillers, individually or combined, at the interface of The CFRPs
Temperature analysis showed about 11%, 16%, and 26% improvement in tan delta, loss modulus, and storage modulus, respectively, when both CNTs and ZnO nanorods co-exist in the composite
Summary
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic composites (CFRPs) have manifested their superior strength and stiffness capabilities in various industries, such as aerospace, civil infrastructure, and marine and automotive transportations [1,2]. It was shown that hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) plays a dual role of pH regulation and forcing the vertical growth of zinc nanorods along the c-axis by inhibiting any lateral growth [40] It has been reported by Skandani et al [41] that nanorods at the interface of CFRPs enhance loss modulus by 50%, improving the damping properties of the composite. Determination of this parameter is crucial for modeling creep behavior in the new hierarchical composites [46] This investigation focuses on revealing the changes in the dynamic mechanical properties and activation energy of a woven CFRP as consequences of adding CNTs and ZnO nanofillers, individually or combined, at the interface of The CFRPs. In our previous work [47], the addition of Bucky paper and ZnO nanorods was studied. In addition to the damping properties, the activation energy of each configuration of composites is estimated
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