MODELING THE HYGRO-THERMO-MECHANICAL AGGLOMERATION RELATIONS OF CARBON-EPOXY HYBRID NANOCOMPOSITES

Abstract

In the present work, the hygro-thermo-mechanical properties of hybrid nanocomposites are presented under the agglomeration effects of carbon nanotubes in the polymer matrix. In order to study the composite behaviors, the Voigt and Reuss homogenization method is adopted to present new relations for a hybrid nanocomposite that contains micro carbon fibers as inclusions along with the nanotubes. The experimental findings have shown that the nanotube agglomerations have a significant impact on the effective thermo-mechanical and moisture properties of nanocomposites. Experimental works also prove that nanotube agglomerations further degrade the electrical and vibration characteristics. Additionally, the existing fabrication methods have shown that extensive deagglomeration process has resulted in considerable damage to the nanotubes. Therefore, in order to overcome the above problems the hybrid nanocomposite concept has been proposed and the effective elastic, thermal, and moisture properties are derived in terms of the nanotube agglomeration. The effective hygro-thermo-mechanical properties of hybrid nanocomposites as a function of nanotube agglomeration volume fraction have been presented. The results prove that the effective properties of nanocomposites are reduced under nanotube agglomerations but enhanced when carbon fibers are used as inclusions. Consequently it is concluded that the nanocomposite properties can be improved by using carbon fibers as hybrid inclusions although nanotube agglomerations may be present.