Improvements in mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of e-glass/epoxy composites using amino functionalized MWCNTs

The prime objective of this work is to optimize the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of e-glass/epoxy composites by utilizing amino-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-NH2) through a combination of dispersion method. At first, 0.1-0.4 wt.% of MWCNT-NH2 was integrated into SC-15 epoxy suspension using a combination of ultra-sonication and calendaring techniques. E-glass/epoxy nanocomposites were than fabricated at elevated temperature with the modified resin using hand layup and compression hot press. 3-Point flexural and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results demonstrated a linearly increasing trend in properties from 0 to 0.3 wt.% loading. Micrographs of MWCNTs incorporated epoxy and e-glass/epoxy samples revealed uniform dispersion of MWCNTs in epoxy, good interfacial adhesion between CNTs and polymer, and improved interfacial bonding between fiber/matrix at 0.3 wt.% loading. An improved dispersion and hence an improved cross-link interaction between MWCNT-NH2 and epoxy lead to the stronger shift of the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of the composites. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.