In the present work, vibration characteristics of functionally graded (FG)
Keywords multiwalled carbon nanotubes, vibration, sandwich plates, modified Halpin-Tsai equation, three-dimensional elasticity solution
IntroductionNowadays, the use of carbon nanotubes in polymer/carbon nanotube composites has attracted wide attention [1]. A high aspect ratio, low weight of CNTs and their extraordinary mechanical properties (strength and flexibility) provide the ultimate reinforcement for the next generation of extremely lightweight but highly elastic and very strong advanced composite materials. On the other hand, by using of the polymer/CNT composites in advanced composite materials, we can achieve structures with low weight, high strength and high stiffness in many structures of civil, mechanical and space engineering.Several researches have recently investigated the elastic properties of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and their composites [2,3]. Gojny et al. [4] focused on the evaluation of the different types of the CNTs applied, their influence on the mechanical properties of epoxy-based nanocomposites and the relevance of surface functionalization. Therefore, the study of the mechanical performance of CNT-based composites and the discovery of possible innovative applications has recently attracted the interest of many researchers.Several researchers have reported that mechanical properties of polymeric matrices can be drastically increased [5,6] by adding a few weight percent (wt%) MWCNTs. Montazeri et al. [5] showed that modified Halpin-Tsai equation with exponential Aspect ratio can be used to model the experimental result of MWCNT composite samples. They also demonstrated that reduction in Aspect ratio (L/d) and nanotube length cause a decrease in aggregation and above 1.5 wt%, nanotubes agglomerate causing a reduction in Young's modulus values. Thus, it is important to determine the effect Aspect ratio and arrangement of CNTs on the effective properties of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC). Yeh et al. [6] used the Halpin-Tsai equation to shows the effect of MWCNT shape factor (L/d) on the mechanical properties. They showed that the mechanical properties of nanocomposite samples with the higher shape factor (L/d) values were better than the ones with the lower shape factor. The reinforcement effect of MWCNTs with different aspect ratio in an epoxy matrix has been carried out by Martone et al. [7]. They showed that progressive reduction of