Influence of wear of carbon nanotube grown on carbon surfaces on the mechanical and electrical properties of composite materials

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes grafted on carbon fibres are used to reinforce composite materials and improve their mechanical properties. The growth of the carbon nanotubes can be directly realized on the surface to obtain entangled carbon nanotubes, and the use of such reinforcements leads to increases in the mechanical properties of the composites. However, in an industrial-scale manufacturing process, different strains will be applied on the carbon nanotubes, such as friction stresses, causing the formation of a transfer film, which is always composed of carbon nanotubes without structural modification. In this study, the properties of composite materials formed by the growth of carbon nanotubes on carbon fibre reinforcement are determined in two different states of the carbon nanotubes: before the wear of the surface (carbon nanotubes entangled on the surface) and after the wear of the surface (carbon nanotubes in a transfer film state). The influence of the state of the carbon nanotubes on the electrical and mechanical properties of the composite materials is studied. No modification of the electrical and mechanical properties is observed, which means that an industrial-scale process that induces the formation of the transfer film does not modify the properties of the composite materials.