Hybrid Carbon Fiber Reinforced Laminates with Interlaminar Nanofibers

Abstract

Polyamide (PA) nanofibers (NFs) interleaves have been inserted as a continuous non-woven mat between prepreg plies of a carbon fiber reinforced (CFR) laminate during lamination. Hybridization has been made by mixing two different material scales, being the micro-scale and the nanoscale of the CFs and the NFs respectively and two different polymer types being thermosetting the matrix and thermoplastic the NFs. Final composite laminates have been produced by vacuum bagging and autoclave molding according to the consolidated industrial procedure of aeronautic parts. Traditional square CFR laminates with 20 plies have been also manufactured using the same unidirectional (UD) CFR prepreg tape with 0/90 stacking sequence for comparison. Rectangular specimens were finally extracted from the manufactured plates. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and three-point bending tests were carried out. The reduction of the glass transition temperature Tg revealed the achieved interaction among PANFs and the resin matrix. Moreover, bending strength increased up to 9% for hybrid laminates revealing that nanostructures can add functionalities to traditional composite laminates without affecting their mechanical performances.