Three-phase homogenization procedure for woven fabric composites reinforced by carbon nanotubes in thermal environment

Abstract

Woven fabric reinforced materials are composite mediums commonly used in automotive industry. In this sector, high strength mechanical properties are required by the designers due to high loads during operation. Woven fabrics are modelled as orthotropic interlaced yarns within a polymeric matrix which can have additives. In this context, carbon nanotubes are considered as reinforcing additives for the polymeric matrix, thus, giving to the resulting composite improved mechanical properties. However, the modelling of such composite material configuration is not trivial and it is not generally easy to find analytical formulations which accurately fit experimental results. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to display a comparison among experimental and analytical mechanical properties predictions of carbon woven textile composites. In addition, some novel configurations have been proposed for further applications in this framework.