a b s t r a c tDense carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown uniformly on the surface of carbon fibers and glass fibers to create hierarchical fibers by use of floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition. Morphologies of the CNTs were investigated using scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Larger diameter dimension and distinct growing mechanism of nanotubes on glass fiber were revealed. Short carbon and glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composites were fabricated using the hierarchical fibers and compared with composites made using neat fibers. Tensile, flexural and impact properties of the composites were measured, which showed evident enhancement in all mechanical properties compared to neat short fiber composites. SEM micrographs of composite fracture surface demonstrated improved adhesion between CNT-coated fiber and the matrix. The enhanced mechanical properties of short fiber composites was attributed to the synergistic effects of CNTs in improving fiber-matrix interfacial properties as well as the CNTs acting as supplemental reinforcement in short fiber-composites.

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) and short carbon fibers were incorporated into an epoxy matrix to fabricate a high performance multiscale composite. To improve the stress transfer between epoxy and carbon fibers, CNT were also grown on fibers through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to produce CNT grown short carbon fibers (CSCF). Mechanical characterization of composites was performed to investigate the synergy effects of CNT and CSCF in the epoxy matrix. The multiscale composites revealed significant improvement in elastic and storage modulus, strength as well as impact resistance in comparison to CNT-epoxy or CSCF-epoxy composites. An optimum content of CNT was found which provided the maximum stiffness and strength. The synergic reinforcing effects of combined fillers were analyzed on the fracture surface of composites through optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Hierarchically structured hybrid composites are ideal engineered materials to carry loads and stresses due to their high in-plane specific mechanical properties. Growing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of high performance carbon fibres (CFs) provides a means to tailor the mechanical properties of the fibre-resin interface of a composite. The growth of CNT on CF was conducted via floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The mechanical properties of the resultant fibres, carbon nanotube (CNT) density and alignment morphology were shown to depend on the CNT growth temperature, growth time, carrier gas flow rate, catalyst amount, and atmospheric conditions within the CVD chamber. Carbon nanotube coated carbon fibre reinforced polypropylene (CNT-CF/PP) composites were fabricated and characterized. A combination of Halpin-Tsai equations, Voigt-Reuss model, rule of mixture and Krenchel approach were used in hierarchy to predict the mechanical properties of randomly oriented short fibre reinforced composite. A fractographic analysis was carried out in which the fibre orientation distribution has been analyzed on the composite fracture surfaces with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and image processing software. Finally, the discrepancies between the predicted and experimental values are explained.

In spite of several researches to synthesize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on carbon fiber (CF), most have obtained entangled nanotubes versus the aligned form. In this study, by controlling catalyst coating technique, vertically aligned CNT were grown on CF through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Activated fiber surface originated from acid treatment, compact coverage of catalyst precursor via applying ultrasonication in appropriate solvent, followed by calcinating were effective parameters which resulted in growing bundles and vertically aligned CNT on CF. Ethanol and acetone were examined as solvent thereby spot catalyst coating was created from the former while film coverage produced from the later and resulted in distinctive CNT morphology.

A double SAW resonator system was developed as a novel method for gas sensing applications. The proposed system was investigated for hydrogen sensing. Commercial Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) resonators with resonance frequencies of 433.92 MHz and 433.42 MHz were employed in the double SAW resonator system configuration. The advantages of using this configuration include its ability for remote measurements, and insensitivity to vibrations and other external disturbances. The sensitive layer is composed of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes and polyaniline nanofibers which were deposited on pre-patterned platinum metal electrodes fabricated on a piezoelectric substrate. This was mounted into the DSAWR circuit and connected in parallel. The sensor response was measured as the difference between the resonance frequencies of the SAW resonators, which is a measure of the gas concentration. The sensor showed good response towards hydrogen with a minimum detection limit of 1%.