Effective properties of a novel composite reinforced with short carbon fibers and radially aligned carbon nanotubes

A novel short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite reinforced with aligned short carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been analyzed in this study. The constructional feature of this composite is that the uniformly aligned CNTs are radially grown on the circumferential surfaces of short carbon fibers. Micromechanical model based on the Mori-Tanaka method is derived to estimate the effective elastic properties of the short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite. Effective elastic properties of the short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite estimated by the Mori-Tanaka method have been compared with those predicted by the finite element (FE) method. The effective properties of the short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite are estimated in the presence and the absence of an interphase between a CNT and the polymer matrix formed due to non-bonded van der Waals interaction between them. It has been found that the transverse effective properties of this composite are significantly improved due to the radial growing of CNTs on the circumferential surface of the short carbon fibers and the CNT/ polymer matrix interphase has negligible effect on the effective properties of the short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite. Effects of the different types of zig-zag CNTs and the variation of their volume fraction on the effective properties of the short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite are also investigated. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.