Abstract
Abstract Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are high-performance materials used extensively in aerospace and defense industries. Researchers have added various nanoscale materials to FRPs for improving their mechanical properties and to prepare multifunctional composites. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their high strength, high modulus, and large aspect ratio have emerged as a frontrunner in the nano-reinforcements, and there is a large volume of published research on this topic. This article provides an extensive review of key publications covering topics of fabrication methods, enhancement of mechanical properties, and applications of CNT-modified FRP materials in structural health monitoring. A description of the main methods of adding CNTs into FRP materials, including dispersion in the resin and film lay-up, is presented. A key focus of the review is the effect of CNTs on the mechanical properties of FRP composites, including interlaminar fracture toughness, impact resistance, and fatigue properties. Since CNTs have self-sensing properties, there is potential to use CNTs for nondestructive identification (NDI) and structural health monitoring (SHM) of composite structures. Finally, a discussion of the problems that might be encountered during the use of CNTs as nano-reinforcements in FRP, and the future application potential of CNT-modified FRP materials is reported.
Highlights
1.1 The superior performance of carbon nanotubesCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) were discovered in 1991 by Japanese scientist Iijima [1] and have attracted huge attention among the research community due to their superior material properties
The results showed that the multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were dispersed more homogeneous by microfluidic processing (MF) and planetary shear mixing (PSM) processing yields than by PSM or US + PSM samples
The results show that the maximum GIC value of CFRP increased by 25, 20, and 17% after adding COOH-MWCNTs at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt% concentrations, respectively
Summary
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were discovered in 1991 by Japanese scientist Iijima [1] and have attracted huge attention among the research community due to their superior material properties. CNTs have a perfect hexagonal structure and can be divided into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). It is possible to manufacture large quantities of CNTs by CVD, and the number of walls, diameter, length, and orientation can be controlled during the growth process [8]. Due to the excellent performance in various aspects such as electrical and heat conductivity, mechanics, and chemistry, the application of CNTs has involved electronic and electrical components, biomedicine products, composite materials, chemical sensors, and so on [9,10,11,12,13,14]. CNT-reinforced FRP materials have been widely used in many fields such as aerospace, automotive engineering, marine engineering, and sports equipment [23], and it is the focus of this article
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