The influence of carbon nanotube addition on the shear-thickening performance of suspensions

Abstract

The shear thickening fluid as a protective material has received increasing attention, and its impact resistance and its rheological properties are controllable by integrating various kinds of additives to a single phase shear thickening fluid. In this paper, the rheological properties of shear thickening fluids with 26 wt.% fume silica, PEG200 and different mass fraction of multi-walled carbon nano-tubes are investigated, and the effect of temperature from -5?C to 55?C on steady state rheological properties of 1.0 wt.% multi-walled carbon nanotubes reinforced shear thickening fluids is studied. Finally a single yarn pull-out test is conducted to examine the influence of multi-shear thickening fluid on the shear strength and inter-yarn friction of fabrics. The results show that the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes can improve significantly the viscosity and shear thickening efficiency.