Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
ACS Nano. 2010 Nov 23;4(11):6798-804. doi: 10.1021/nn101650p. Epub 2010 Oct 19.
Carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforcement of polymer composites has not yielded optimum results in that the composite properties are typically compromised by poor dispersion and random orientation of CNTs in polymers. Given the short lengths available for nanotubes, opportunities lie in incorporating CNTs with other structural reinforcements such as carbon fibers (CFs) to achieve improvement over existing composite designs. Growth of vertically aligned CNTs (VACNTs) offers new avenues for designing high-performance composites by integrating CFs and nanotubes into layered 3D architectures. To obtain composites with high rigidity and damping, we have designed and fabricated VACNT-based sandwich composites from simply stacking the freestanding VACNTs and CF fabrics and infiltrating with epoxy matrix. Comparing with the CF/epoxy laminates, the VACNT-based sandwich composites exhibit higher flexural rigidity and damping, which is achieved due to the effective integration of the VACNTs as an interfacial layer between the CF stacks. Furthermore, the lighter weight of these VACNT-based sandwich composites offers advantages in aerospace and transportation applications.
碳纳米管（CNT）增强聚合物复合材料的效果并不理想，因为 CNT 在聚合物中的分散性差且取向随机，通常会损害复合材料的性能。鉴于纳米管的短长度，将 CNT 与碳纤维（CF）等其他结构增强材料结合使用，以实现现有复合材料设计的改进，是一个机会。垂直排列的 CNT（VACNT）的生长为通过将 CF 和纳米管集成到分层 3D 结构中设计高性能复合材料提供了新途径。为了获得具有高刚性和高阻尼的复合材料，我们通过简单地堆叠独立式 VACNTs 和 CF 织物并用环氧树脂基体进行浸渍，设计并制造了基于 VACNT 的夹层复合材料。与 CF/环氧树脂层压板相比，基于 VACNT 的夹层复合材料表现出更高的弯曲刚性和阻尼，这是由于 VACNT 作为 CF 堆叠之间的界面层的有效集成实现的。此外，这些基于 VACNT 的夹层复合材料的重量更轻，在航空航天和运输应用中具有优势。
