Abstract
The majority of currently published dispersion protocols of carbon nanotubes rely on techniques that are not scalable to an industrial level. This work shows how to obtain polymer nanocomposites with good mechanical characteristics using multi-walled carbon nanotubes epoxy resins obtained by mechanical mixing only. The mechanical dispersion method illustrated in this work is easily scalable to industrial level. The high shearing force due to the complex field of motion produces a good and reproducible carbon nanotube dispersion. We have tested an industrial epoxy matrix with good baseline mechanical characteristics at different carbon nanotube weight loads. ASTM-derived tensile and compressive tests show an increment in both Young’s modulus and compressive strength compared with the pristine resin from a starting low wt %. Comparative vibration tests show improvement in the damping capacity. The new carbon nanotube enhanced epoxy resin has superior mechanical proprieties compared to the market average competitor, and is among the top products in the bi-components epoxy resins market. The new dispersion method shows significant potential for the industrial use of CNTs in epoxy matrices.
Highlights
Composites materials are made from two or more constituents, with generally different physical or chemical properties
We used non-functionalized with good2.mechanical properties, and andExperimental a low temperature multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with an average aspect ratio of 160% and 90% purity
The epoxy used is in this workof is aCNTs
Summary
Composites materials are made from two or more constituents, with generally different physical or chemical properties. The combination of these phases produces a material with characteristics that differ from the isolated components. In the field of fiber-reinforced polymers (i.e., glass fiber composites, carbon fiber composites, Kevlar composites) the polymeric matrix is responsible for holding together the fiber portion of the material, and it is itself a structural element contributing to the final mechanical proprieties of the composite [1,2]. It is evident that any mechanical improvement of the polymeric matrix will increase the resistance of the final composite material. The need to obtain composites with peculiar properties and high specific stiffness/resistance has often pushed researchers to investigate the value of carbon nanotubes-based composites [3,4,5,6]
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