Investigation on the mechanical and electrical properties of carbon nanotube/epoxy composites produced by resin transfer molding

Abstract

For industrial application of carbon nanotube/polymer composites, it is critical to produce composites in an efficient way. In this study, large size carbon nanotube buckypaper, which is directly produced by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition method, was used to reinforce epoxy through conventional resin transfer molding process. The infiltration behavior of resin was analyzed, indicating that efficient carbon nanotube-epoxy interface has been formed near the surface of the composites. With 26.87% weight fraction of carbon nanotubes, the composites show a great enhancement in mechanical properties, that the failure strength and Young’s moduli increase from 45 MPa and 2.5 GPa to 254.39 MPa and 6.69 GPa with a large failure strain over 15%. In addition, the composite film is electrically conductive with a conductivity of 220 S/cm. It also shows linear piezoresistive effect with a gage factor tested to be 2.68, indicating a great potential in multifunctional smart structure applications.