Failure of carbon nanotube/polymer composites and the effect of nanotube waviness

This paper studies the failure of CNT/polymer composites by combining micromechanics model and finite element simulation. A computational model of composite of adequate size is employed so the interactions between nanotubes embedded in the matrix can be taken into account. The effects of nanotube waviness and random nanotube distribution relative to aligned straight nanotubes are investigated. The computational results indicate that the nanotube waviness tend to reduce the elastic modulus but increase the ultimate strain of a composite. The randomness of nanotube distribution tends to reduce both the composite elastic modulus and tensile strength. The damage initiation and evolution in composites with random wavy nanotubes have also been analyzed.