Strengthening sandwich composites by laminating ultra-thin oriented carbon nanotube sheets at the skin/core interface

Abstract

Strong, tough, and lightweight composites are increasingly needed for diverse applications, from wind turbines to cars and aircraft. These composites typically contain sheets of strong and high-modulus fibers in a matrix that are joined with other materials to resist fracture. Coupling these dissimilar materials together is challenging to enhance delamination properties at their interface. We herein investigate using a trace amount of carbon nanotube sheets to improve the coupling between composite skins and core in a composite sandwich. Ultra-thin (∼100 nm) forest-drawn multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) sheets are interleaved within the skin/core interphase, with MWNTs aligned in the longitudinal direction. The mechanical behavior is characterized by end-notched flexural testing (ENF). With two MWNT sheets placed in the skin/core interphase, the following performance enhancements are achieved: 36.8 % increase in flexural strength; 127.3 % and 125.7 % increases in mode I & II fracture toughness values, respectively; and 152.8 % increase in interfacial shear strength (IFSS). These are achieved with negligible weight gain of the composite sandwich (0.084 wt% increase over the baseline sandwich without MWNT sheets). The finite element simulation results show that MWNT sheets enhance the skin/core coupling by reducing stress concentration, enabling the transition from catastrophic brittle failure to a stable ductile failure mode. The MWNT sheets interleaved sandwich composites are thus demonstrated to be stronger and tougher while providing electrical conductivity (4.3 × 104S/m) at the skin/core interface for potential de-icing, electromagnetic interference shielding, and structural health monitoring.