Influence of nano-modification on the mechanical and electrical properties of conventional fibre-reinforced composites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit a high-potential for the reinforcement of polymers. The mechanical properties of potential matrices of fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP), such as epoxy resins, were significantly increased by low contents of carbon nanotubes (CNT) (tensile strength, Young's modulus and fracture toughness). Nano-particle-reinforced FRPs, containing carbon black (CB) and CNTs could successfully be manufactured via resin transfer moulding (RTM). A filtering effect of the nano-particles by the glass-fibre bundles was not observed. The glass-fibre-reinforced polymers (GFRP) with nanotube/epoxy matrix exhibit significantly improved matrix-dominated properties (e.g. interlaminar shear strength), while the tensile properties were not affected by the nano-fillers, due to the dominating effect of the fibre-reinforcement. The GFRP containing 0.3 wt% amino-functionalised double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNT-NH2) exhibit an anisotropic electrical conductivity, whereas the conductivity in plane is one order of magnitude higher than out of plane.