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ReuseUnless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version -refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher's website. TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request.Functionally graded carbon nanotube and nafion/silica nanofibre for electrical actuation of carbon fibre reinforced shape memory polymer Purpose -To study the synergistic effect of self-assembled carboxylic acid-functionalised carbon nanotube (CNT) and nafion/silica nanofibre nanopaper on the electro-activated shape memory effect (SME) and shape recovery behaviour of shape memory polymer (SMP) nanocomposite.Design/methodology/approach -Carboxylic acid-functionalised CNT and nafion/silica nanofibre are first self-assembled onto carbon fibre by means of deposition and electrospinning approaches, respectively, to form functionally graded nanopaper. The combination of carbon fibre and CNT is introduced to enable the actuation of the shape memory effect in SMP by means of Joule heating at a low electric voltage of 3.0-5.0 V.Findings -Nafion/silica nanofibre is employed to improve the shape recovery behaviour and performance of the SMP for enhanced heat transfer and electrical actuation effectiveness. Low electrical voltage actuation and high electrical actuation effectiveness of 32.5% in SMP has been achieved.Research implications -A simple way for fabricating electro-activated SMP nanocomposites has been developed by using functionally graded CNT and nafion/silica nanofibre nanopaper.Originality/value -The outcome of this study may help the fabrication of SMP composites with high electrical actuation effectiveness under low electrical voltage actuation.

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To explore the spectral radiation characteristics of carbon nanofibers, a finite-difference time-domain method has been applied to study and calculate the scattering/absorption factors of carbon nanofibers with various arrangements, while the filler contents are 61.15%, 53.81%, 48.92%, 44.03% and 39.13% in the spectrum band of 2.5–15 µm. The effects of the nanofiber content, 2D/3D random arrangement and nanofiber radius on scattering/absorption characteristics have been analyzed. The analytical results show that the spectral radiation characteristics of carbon nanofibers have been significantly increased with an increase in the filler content. When the nanofiber content reduced to 48.92%, the random arrangement structure of carbon nanofiber plays an essential role in determining the spectral radiation characteristics. Analytical results prove that the prediction accuracy has been significantly improved by 30.12% by sing the 3D random arrangement model than by using the 2D uniform arrangement model. This study proposed a 3D model to predict the spectral radiation characteristics of carbon nanofibers and their aggregates in engineering nanocomposites.

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