Abstract
Due to their good mechanical properties, low density, and ease of processing polymer nanocomposites are of interest for a multitude of applications in the automotive, electronics, and leisure industry. Besides having an impact on short-term mechanical performance of polymers, the addition of nanoreinforcements can have also a significant effect on long-term properties such as the resistance to static (creep) and cyclic (fatigue) loadings. However, despite its significance there is a shortage of long-term mechanical performance data for thermoplastic-based polymer nanocomposites. Reason being that existing characterization methods for long-term performance and durability are time consuming and limited in their applicability. Here, an engineering approach to predict long-term time-to-failure of polycarbonate/carbon nanotube (PC/CNT) nanocomposites is presented based on short-term experimentation with an application to both creep and fatigue. Results showed that the addition of CNTs had an opposite effect on two important long-term failure mechanisms. Addition of CNTs lead to improvements in durability in the plasticity-controlled failure regime, whereas it had an adverse effect in the slow crack growth-controlled regime, meaning that in the latter regime nanocomposite performance was significantly less than that of the neat polymer matrix.
Highlights
Polymer-based materials are being used in a variety of load bearing applications where structural integrity and long-term durability is of great importance
With regards to plasticity-controlled failure, as expected, nanocomposite samples show superior behaviour compared to unfilled PC
Deformation kinetics in the plasticitycontrolled failure regime of polymer nanocomposites can be characterised by performing tensile tests at different strain rates and can be modelled by using the Eyring equation
Summary
Addition of CNTs which have superior mechanical properties (Young’s moduli up to 1TPa and tensile strengths up to 100 GPa [12]) can greatly improve the mechanical properties of polymer matrices but will affect other physical properties (electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, fire retardancy, air and liquid permeability, fatigue resistance etc.) These multi-functionalities have opened new possibilities for potential industrial applications of polymer nanocomposites. We will investigate how the addition of CNTs affects plasticity-controlled failure and slow crack growth-controlled failure of a polycarbonate (PC) matrix under both static and cyclic loadings along with the basic principles of phenomenological models that can be used to estimate the lifetime of polymer nanocomposites
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