Evaluating the effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the mechanical properties of chopped strand mat/polyester composites

•The effect of adding MWNTs on properties of mat/polyester composites was studied.•The SEM and burn-off test were used to inspect the dispersion of carbon nanotubes.•Tensile and flexural properties of the mat/polyester composites were studied.•The flexural strength and compressive modulus of nanocomposite increased.•The tensile strength was not changed significantly.

In this research, the influence of adding multi-walled carbon nanotubes at various contents on the mechanical properties of chopped strand mat/polyester composites was investigated. Initially, the effect of the sonication time on the dispersion of carbon nanotube at the highest weight ratio (0.5 wt.%) was inspected. To achieve this goal, a new technique based on scanning electron microscopy, which utilizes the burn-off test, was introduced to visualize the dispersion state of carbon nanotubes. Subsequently, the effect of addition of multi-walled carbon nanotube on the tensile and flexural properties of the fiber reinforced composites was studied. The results of mechanical tests showed that adding only 0.05 wt.% carbon nanotube enhanced the flexural strength of the hybrid composite by 45% while the tensile strength was not changed significantly. Improvements in the tensile and flexural moduli were also observed. Moreover, theoretical relations between the tensile, flexural and compressive moduli based on the classical beam theory were employed to determine the effect of carbon nanotube on the compressive modulus of composites. The theoretical result showed 31% enhancement in the compressive modulus.

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