Strong viscous behavior discovered in nanotube mats, as observed in boron nitride nanotube mats

Abstract

Strong viscous behavior has been discovered in nanotube mats, as observed in boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) mats under low-amplitude dynamic flexure. The solid part of the mat (BNNTs) exhibits strong viscous character (loss tangent up to 13), strong elastic character (storage modulus up to 2.3 GPa), and strong mechanical energy dissipation ability (loss modulus up to 7.3 GPa), indicating exceptional vibration damping ability. The loss tangent of the solid part of the mat decreases with increasing solid content, while the storage and loss moduli of the solid part increases, due to the increasing difficulty for frictional sliding among the BNNTs.