FEM micromechanical modeling of nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes

Małgorzata Chwał,Aleksander Muc

doi:10.1515/rams-2021-0027

Małgorzata Chwał, Aleksander Muc

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1515/rams-2021-0027

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Abstract

Abstract Mechanical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based nanocomposites are broadly discussed in the literature. The influence of CNT arrangements on the elastic properties of nanocomposites based on the finite-element method (FEM) and representative volume element (RVE) approach is presented here. This study is an application of RVE modeling in the characterization of elastic behavior of CNT polymer nanocomposites. Our main contribution is the analysis of the impact of a nanotube arrangement on the elastic properties of nanocomposite to comprehensively determine the material constants. While most of the articles are focused on one distribution, not all material constants are determined. Our FEM analysis is compared with micromechanical models and other results from the literature. The current work shows that nanotube arrangements lead to different results of elastic properties. The analytical micromechanical models are consistent with the numerical results only for axial Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, whereas other elastic constants are lower than the numerical predictions. The results of these studies indicate that FEM can predict nanocomposite mechanical properties with good accuracy. This article is helpful and useful to comprehensively understand the influence of CNT arrangements on the elastic properties of nanocomposites.

Highlights

Mechanical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)based nanocomposites are broadly discussed in the literature
Our findings are compared with micromechanical results
Numerical results showed a high increase in the elastic properties; during modeling of the nanocomposite, a lot of assumption is made, which are mostly a great challenge to realize during the sample preparations such as, e.g., perfect alignment and strong interphase

Summary

Introduction

Abstract: Mechanical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)based nanocomposites are broadly discussed in the literature. Al-Ostaz et al [27] applied MD to calculate the elastic properties of SWCNT-enhanced composites considering matrix, CNT, and interphase They analyzed cases of aligned and randomly distributed SWCNTs. Anjana et al [28] studied the effects of the volume fraction and aspect ratio on the mechanical properties of SWCNT nanocomposites using MD. Kassa and Arumugam [44] applied the combined numerical approach and experimental verification for the prediction of the elastic behavior of CNT-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. According to the literature review, it is observed that the influence of different parameters including CNT wall number, length, aspect ratio, waviness, alignment, distribution, van der Waals forces, interphases, and matrix modulus on nanocomposite mechanical properties has been studied. Theoretical models describing effective mechanical properties of CNT-based nanocomposites are still a current issue

Materials and methods

Comparative analysis and discussion

Findings

Conclusions