Effect of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes on

Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Carbon Fiber

Reinforced Polymer Composites in Aircraft Structures
P.K. Sahoo*, Vinod Kumar K
Dr. P.K. Sahoo
Raman Research Fellow-2012-13, Univ. Stuttgart, Germany
Principal Scientist
Structural Technological Division
CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories
Bangalore-560017, India
Tel.: +91 80 2508 6342, 9900523444 (Mob)
Email: pks@nal.res.in, sahoopradeepk1@gmail.com
ADMAT 2019, Mat Def
23-25 September 2019
Courtyard by Marriott, Hyderabad, INDIA
24th September 2019
Director, CSIR-NAL, Bangalore
CSIR Grant (Project no. MLP 1808)
Colleagues of Centre for Societal Mission & Special
Technologies (CSMST) of CSIR-NAL working in the project
Masters students working in the Group

#2
Carbon fibre reinforced polymer
(CFRP) composites are extensively
used in the aerospace industries
for both civilian and military aircraft
structural applications
MWCNTs (which have exceptional
mechanical properties and electrical
conductivity) in epoxy resins improves
its mechanical properties and electrical
conductivity.

#3
MIT aerospace engineers: Method to reinforce carbon nanotubes
could make airplane frames lighter, more damage-resistant
Found a way to bond composite layers in such a
way that the resulting material is substantially
stronger and more resistant to damage than other
advanced composites. Their results are published
in the journal Composites Science and
Technology.

Embedded tiny "forests" of carbon nanotubes

within a glue-like polymer matrix, then pressed the
matrix between layers of carbon fiber composites.
The nanotubes, resembling tiny, vertically-aligned
stitches, worked themselves within the crevices of
each composite layer, serving as a scaffold to hold
the layers together.

#4
 Researchers Key Findings
Seidel and Effective elastic constants of straight CNT-based polymer composite by various
Lagoudas micromechanical techniques: Mori-Tanaka, composite cylinders and self-consistent
approaches.

Tsai et al. Applied the Mori-Tanaka model to quantify the transverse and longitudinal elastic moduli of
straight CNT-based polyimide composites.
Ansari and Used the unit cell concept in the micromechanical model to evaluate the elastic constants
Hassanzadeh of straight CNT-based polymer composite.
Feli et al. Calculated effective elastic response properties of nanocomposites embedded with carbon
nanotubes consisting of different orientations of CNTs using Mori-Tanka model.
Pan et al. proposed a new model to evaluate the effective mechanical elastic constants of polymer
nanocomposites embedded with wavy CNTs.
Basso et al. carried out multiscale modelling and analysis of Boehmite/polypropylene nanocomposite
using DIGIMAT-MF and DIGIMAT – FE. The effective elastic modulus of nanocomposite
was found to be 1599.2 MPa and 1600 MPa respectively, in comparison with
experimentally determined Young’s modulus of 1720 MPa.
#5
 Researchers Key Findings
Deng and Zheng Proposed a simple micromechanical model to determine the effective electrical
conductivity for CNT- based polymer composites by involving various parameters
such as percolation, anisotropy and conductive networks.
Takeda et al. considered electron hopping mechanism among CNTs and modified the Deng and
Zheng model by taking CNTs as effective nanofibers to evaluate the overall
electrical conductivity of the polymer nanocomposite.
Gary Don Seidel used the Mori-Tanaka micromechanics approach to investigate the effect of
and Lagoudas electron hopping and the formation of conductive networks on the effective
conductivity of CNT- based polymer composites.
Feng et al. developed a mixed micromechanics model by considering electron hopping,
conductive networks, interface layer properties and aspect ratio to predict the
effective electrical conductivity of CNT- based polymer nanocomposites.
Basso et al. carried out multistage modelling and analysis using DIGIMAT software to predict
the percolation threshold of MWCNT/Epoxy composite with MWCNT having an
aspect ratio of 100 and electrical conductivity of 104 S/m #6
Tapping exceptional mechanical and electrical properties of CNTs
through embedding them in conventional aerospace grade CFRP
composites
Multiscale composite (Three-phase) by adding nanoscale
materials to conventional CFRP composites is new and
challenging in terms of manufacturing, modelling and multiscale
simulation
Most of the Multiscale modelling and simulation studies of the
CNT-based polymer nanocomposites to find mechanical and
electrical conductive properties- Limited to the two-phase
composite system only
#7
 Investigating the effect of MWCNTs (nanoscale materials) addition
in conventional CFRP on mechanical and electrical conductivity
properties
 To carry out parametric studies of these properties with varying
weight percentage (wt. %) of MWCNTs
Material Properties Araldite Epoxy T300 Carbon Fiber MWCNT (Isotropy)
Resin (Isotropy) (Transversely Isotropy)
Young’s Modulus (Gpa) E=3450 E1=230, E2=E3=13.8 550
Poisson's Ratio ν=0.35 ν12=ν13=0.2, ν23=0.25 0.34
Shear Modulus (Gpa) - G12=G13=8.97, G23=4.83 -
Electrical Conductivity, S/m 2e-8 58823.53 800
Density, g/cc 1.17 1.76 1.89
#8
Fiber Volume fraction of T300/Araldite/MWCNT Composites with
varying CNT wt%

Fiber Volume Fraction

Wt% of MWCNT
(For 60 wt% T300 Fiber)
0% 0.5007
1% 0.4983
2% 0.4959
3% 0.4935

#9
Multi-scale Micromechanics Approach for Evaluating Effective Properties of
CF/CNT/epoxy nanocomposite: CNTs Epoxy Resin Carbon Fiber

MWCNT Orientation through

Transformation angle ‘a’

Aligned MWCNT Randomly in

Epoxy Resin Matrix

Determination of Mechanical & Electrical

Properties of CNT/Epoxy composite by
Eshelby Mori-Tanka’s Model

Determination of Mechanical & Electrical

Properties of CF/CNT/Epoxy nanocomposite
by Eshelby Mori-Tanka’s Model
#10
Analytical (Mori-Tanaka) Method (Stiffness):
The elastic stiffness tensor C∝ can be obtained by the transformation of
elastic stiffness tensor CCNT and can be expressed as

Where T is the transformation matrix

#11
Analytical (Mori-Tanaka) Method for Electrical Conductivity:
The electrical conductivity tensor S∝ can be obtained by a particular
transformation of electrical conductivity tensor SCNT and can be expressed as

Where Q is the transformation matrix

#12
FEM Method:

Periodic Boundary Conditions

applied to RVE to Evaluate Stiffness
RVE Constants
Calculation of Width 'a' of RVE Element
(Epoxy+CNT)+Fiber
Total number of nodes: 7377
Volume Fraction of
Total number of elements: 6920
Fiber 'Vfiber' 6240 linear hexahedral elements of
type C3D8R
Reuss Model
Width of RVE 680 linear wedge elements of type
8.7646 µm (SoM based RoM) #13
Element 'af' C3D6
Young's Modulus E1 GPa

Young's Modulus E2=E3 GPa

Shear Modulus G12=G13 GPa

Shear Modulus G23 GPa

#14
Electrical Conductivity of Araldite /MWCNT Composites (2-phase)

Wt% Electrical Conductivity C S/m 0.00002

of

Electrical Conductivity C S/m:

MWC Analytical Experimental
0.000015

NT 0.00001

0% 2.00E-08
1% 5.74E-06 5.60E-06 0.000005

2% 1.18E-05
0
3% 1.81E-05 0 1 2 3 4
CNT Weight %

 Electrical conductivity = 2.00E-08 S/m

 Significant improvement in electrical conductivities (About 100% increase)
#15
 Tensile Modulus T300/Araldite /MWCNT Nanocomposites (3-phase)
Wt% of Young's Modulus E1 GPa Wt% of Young's Modulus E2=E3 GPa
MWCNT Analytical FEM MWCNT Analytical FEM
0% 116.65 116.123 0% 6.8455 7.215
1% 117.96 117.426 1% 8.6429 8.7384
2% 119.29 118.74 2% 10.146 10.017
3% 120.63 120.061 3% 11.444 11.137
122
12

121
11

YOUNG MODULUS E2=E3GPA

YOUNG MODULUS E1 GPA

120
10

119
Analytical 9
Analytical
118 FEM
8 FEM

117
7

116
6
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4
CNT WEIGHT %
CNT WEIGHT %
#16
 Poisson's Ratios of T300/Araldite /MWCNT Nanocomposites (3-phase)

Wt% of Major Poisson’s Ratio v12=v13 Wt% of Transverse Poisson’s Ratio v23
MWCNT Analytical FEM MWCNT Analytical FEM
0% 0.4412 0.387 0% 0.2002 0.2702
1% 0.3986 0.3636 1% 0.1909 0.26
2% 0.3729 0.3495 2% 0.1856 0.255
3% 0.356 0.3395 3% 0.1825 0.2511
0.5 0.29

0.27
POSSIONS RATIO V12=V13

POSSIONS RATIO V23

0.25

0.4 0.23
Analytical Analytical
FEM 0.21 FEM

0.19

0.3 0.17
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
CNT WEIGHT % CNT WEIGHT % #17
 Shear Modulus T300/Araldite /MWCNT Nanocomposites (3-phase)
Longitudinal Shear Modulus Transverse Shear Modulus G23
Wt% of G12=G13 GPa Wt% of GPa
MWCNT MWCNT
Analytical FEM Analytical FEM
0% 2.375 2.083 0% 2.6247 2.823
1% 3.09 2.751 1% 3.4017 3.713
2% 3.6951 3.317 2% 4.0497 4.469
3% 4.2202 3.803 3% 4.6083 5.128
5.5
4.5

5
SHEAR MODULUS G12 =G13 GPA

Shear Modulus G23 GPa

4
4.5
3.5
4
Analytical
Analytical
3 FEM
FEM 3.5

2.5 3

2.5
2
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4
CNT WEIGHT %
CNT Weight % #18
 Electrical Conductivities of T300/Araldite /MWCNT Nanocomposites (3-phase)
Electrical Conductivity C1 Electrical Conductivity C2=C3
Wt% of S/m Wt% of S/m
MWCNT MWCNT
Analytical Analytical
0% 29370 0% 5.9886E-08
1% 29510 1% 0.0000173
2% 29653 2% 0.0000358
3% 29796 3% 0.0000553
30000 0.00008
Electrical Conductivity C S/m:

Electrical Conductivity C S/m:

29800
0.00006

29600
0.00004
29400

0.00002
29200

29000 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
CNT Weight % CNT Weight % #19
Multiscale materials manufacturing and simulations are exciting and
pose a great challenge
Influence of CNT wt% is more significant on electrical conductivities
than on mechanical properties
Improvement in mechanical properties are essential for improving
structural Integrity of structure
Improvement in electrical properties are essential for improving SHM
capability of structure
Aspect ratio of CNTs that depend on manufacturing process has
influence on both mechanical and conductivities-to be studied further
#20
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