Aligned carbon nanotube reinforced high performance polymer composites with low erosive wear

The erosive wear behaviour of epoxy composites reinforced with aligned, as-produced carbon nanotube (CNT) films was investigated. The CNT film composites were fabricated in two different configurations, where the unidirectional (0°) and bi-directional (0°/90°) aligned CNT films were exposed to the particle stream. Results have shown that the unidirectional (0°) CNT film/epoxy composite exhibit superior erosive wear resistance compared to the unidirectional (0°) carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite. Furthermore, the bi-directional (0°/90°) CNT film/epoxy composite shows even better resistance to erosion compared to the unidirectional (0°) CNT film/epoxy composite due to additional impact energy absorption resulted from CNT networks. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provides further insight into the erosive wear mechanisms of CNT film composites at different impingement angles. This work has successfully introduced aligned as-produced CNT films fabricating epoxy composites using traditional composite manufacturing processes with low erosive wear and high electrical performance which deliver potential for engineering applications.