Prediction of the Young s modulus of SWCNTs/epoxy nanocomposites by considering SWCNTs curvature and local agglomeration

In this study, the influence of SWCNTs agglomeration, curvature on prediction of Young’s modulus of SWCNTs/epoxy nanocomposites was investigated and compared with experimental results. SWCNTs/epoxy specimens containing 0.3, 0.5 wt.% SWCNTs and neat epoxy fabricated using high power dispersion sonicating and high-speed shearing method. Three different 3-D representative volume element (RVE) of SWCNTs/epoxy including incorporated cylindrical, curved-cylindrical and curved- cylindrical with agglomeration SWCNTs in epoxy matrix have been generated using Digimat-FE and their Young’s modulus obtained from Digimat-FE solver. Numerical results show that, the simplest RVE with considering cylindrical SWCNTs has the greatest error while the RVE with considering curved- cylindrical with agglomeration SWCNTs in epoxy has a good agreement with the experimental results. TEM images showed that, it is important to consider the SWCNTs agglomeration and curvature to predict Young’s modulus of nanocomposites accurately.

کلیدواژه ها:

Young’s Modulus prediction ، Single walled carbon nanotubes ، Digimat-FE ، SWCNTs agglomeration and curvature