Effects of carbon nanotube fillers dispersion on mechanical behavior of phenolic/carbon nanotube nanocomposite

Abstract

Systematic studies have been carried out for investigating the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced phenolic resin. In this work, phenolic resin/CNT nanocomposite were processed using two different techniques: (i) three-roll calender device (TRC) and (ii) aqueous solution processes. In both techniques, up to 2 wt% CNT was used. In this study, it was observed that the values of tensile strength, Young's modulus, shear stress, impact resistance and also that of the tribological properties increased directly proportional to carbon nanotube volume content. Halpin-Tsai, Voigt-Reuss and Cox equations were adopted to fit the experimental data of the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the multiwalled carbon nanotube/phenolic resin composite. Morphological analysis was done utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and good dispersion of nanotubes within the phenolic resin matrix was revealed. Also according to the results presented in this work, SEM showed that TRC processing gave better dispersion than aqueous solution mixing. The observation that the values for mechanical properties increased more for TRC than aqueous mixed samples is consistent with this.

An assessment of mechanical behavior of glass fiber/epoxy composites with secondary short carbon fiber reinforcements

“…In this approach, to enrich the matrix‐dominated properties, researchers modify the matrix with nanofillers during the fabrication process 18,19 . Carbon nanotubes (CNT), like a nano reinforcement in the matrix, have proven to be of immense interest to researchers 20–23 because experimental data indicate improvements in the strength of the matrix by the addition of CNT 24–26 . However, no strength increment or partial enrichment was noticed in some research works 27–29 …”

The effect of nanocarbon inclusion on mechanical, tribological, and thermal properties of phenolic resin‐based composites: An overview

“…169 This might happened due to additional micro filler graphite used in their work in combination with nano reinforcement filler MWCNT with the surfactant 2-propanol and used the combined mixing methods including ultrasonication (30 m) and mechanical stirring (1 hr) for dispersion which provided less viscosity and better dispersion, thereby good reinforcement effects with better mechanical properties than dry milling method or the selected dry milling parameter has not been optimal for this hybrid micro and nano mixtures containing composites. The same approach to mix CNT and phenolic resin was proposed by Botelho et al, 170 as they introduced CNTs in to water with a surfactant, sodium 4-styrene sulfonate (PSSS) and sonicated using high intensity ultrasonic bath. The sonicated CNTs and phenolic resin were then mixed using three roll mechanical mixer followed by final bulk composite development.…”

“…In addition, I G U R E 16 SEM micrographs of fractured surfaces (for phenolic resin nanocomposites with 1 wt% CNT): (A) CNT with wet dispersion and (B) CNT with dry (mechanical milling) dispersion. 170 Reprinted with permission from Springer Nature BV.…”

Strengthening and toughening epoxy polymer at cryogenic temperature using cupric oxide nanorods

“…The effects of the nanoscale reinforcement on the Young's modulus, 𝐸𝐸 𝐼𝐼𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 , of the resultant nanocomposites can be explained and quantified using theoretical models for short fibre reinforcement. Some recent efforts [34,35] have extended the modulus and strength models of short fibre polymer composites to take into account the contributions by micro/nano-scale 1D fillers. Thus, the elastic modulus was estimated using the modified Rule of Mixtures [36] and the Halpin-Tsai models [37], and the details are given in the Supplementary Information.…”