Effect of NH₂-MWCNTs sprayed carbon fiber on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate composite for lightweight structural applications

Abstract

In this work, amine-Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) were reinforced on the surface of fiber fabric by solvent spray deposition method in order to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of carbon fiber/polycarbonate film (CF/PC) stacked composites. The hot press method was used to fabricate the CF/PC composites with varied NH2-MWCNTs concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 wt.%, as well as the reference composite. The multifarious assembly features of Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the fiber surface exhibit greater interfacial mechanics and have a major influence on the load transfer efficiency of the composite. In comparison with reference CF/PC composite, the tensile strength (384.55 MPa) and modulus (23.78 GPa) of composites increase by 67% and 40% respectively for 0.1% NH2-MWCNT reinforcement, whereas flexural strength and flexural modulus increase by 98% and 80%. However, as compared to the 0.1% CNT reinforcement, the impact strength of the 0.7% increases over 6% by absorbing substantial fracture energy. The inclusion of MWCNTs lowers the glass transition temperature (Tg) of composites due to the role of molecular conformations in free surface volume of the polymer. X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and FTIR analysis confirms the functional groups present in the nanocomposite. Field Emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to analyze the dispersion and adhesion surface morphology of MWCNTs on fiber and the fiber/matrix interface interaction fractograph of tensile and impact tested samples.