18 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT OF CARBON NANOTUBE/EPOXY NANOCOMPOSITES FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE PROTECTION. M.Russ 1 *, S.Rahatekar 1 , K Koziol 2 , H-X.Peng 1 , B. Farmer 3 1. Advanced Composite Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS), Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TR, UK 2. Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK 3. EADS Innovation Works, Building 20A1, Golf Course Lane, Filton, Bristol, BS99 7AR *(Michael.Russ@bristol.ac.uk) Keywords : Carbon nanotubes, epoxy, aspect ratio, mechanical, conductivities. 1. Scientific background. insulates adjacent bundles of fibers. The theory is to The last decade has seen much acceleration in the improve the matrix electrical conductivity and usage of CFRP materials on commercial aircraft. possibly to network the carbon fibers both within The Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” and Airbus A350 and between the plies. XWB, which are due to enter service within the next In this context, the present study aims to examine few years, are boasting in excess of 50% composite the scalability of such physical and mechanical materials by weight [1, 2]. properties of carbon nanotube reinforced epoxy In addition to studying carbon fibre reinforced focusing on the effects of nanotube weight fraction epoxy, there is a growing focus on the potential and aspect ratio. effects of nanoparticle reinforcement to further The effect of volume fraction on carbon nanotube augment the mechanical and physical properties of dispersions has been intensely studied over the such materials for use in the aerospace industry [3- years. The effect of carbon nanotube aspect ratio ( α ) 6]. These new materials could be employed in a and aggregate size has been investigated, however, range of novel applications; such as erosion to a much lesser extent [6, 9]. resistance, deicing, structural health monitoring and With regards to mechanical reinforcement, there is lightning strike protection. some debate as to the reinforcement effect of carbon On average, each aircraft is hit twice a year by nanotubes on polymeric matrices. There are often lightning [7] with varying degrees of severity, the conflicting claims of carbon nanotubes increasing or results of which range from cosmetic to structural decreasing mechanical moduli and the extent of damage. A typical lightning strike can deliver an reinforcement effects nanotubes have. electrical discharge of 200 kA, an impact force of The aspect ratio of carbon nanotubes and the effect 16 ! kN and a temperature flux up to 30,000°K on mechanical properties have previously been (28,000°C) [8]. studied. Critical lengths were identified as a Lightning strike protection currently consists of function of the tensile strength and diameter of the bronze woven metallic mesh embedded beneath the nanotubes and the fibre-matrix bond strength, which paint scheme [2], which acts as a sacrificial layer, governed the effective load transfer of the designed to ablate during a lightning strike, nanotubes, would have on the matrix, given by Eq 1: dissipating the electrical and thermal energy. While l c = ! f d this provides excellent protection, it can partially (1) offset the cost and weight saving benefits of using 2 T c composite materials. An alternative concept focuses on improving CFRP Where l c is the critical length of nanotubes, σ f is the lightning strike behaviour, by improving the ultimate fiber strength, d is the fiber diameter and τ mechanical strength, electrical and thermal is the interfacial shear strength. conductivity by using carbon nanotubes. While the PAN-derived carbon fibers offer excellent electrical As well as their effect on the mechanical properties and reasonable thermal conductivity, the epoxy of polymer materials, the potential to use carbon matrix does not, and subsequently isolates and
nanotubes to improve physical properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity have also been From these images, the lengths of the agglomerates explored in great detail. There are few papers, were measured using ImageJ and the size however, that have studied the effect of aspect ratio distribution plotted (Fig 3). After 8 hours, the mean on such properties. average length was found to be 5 µm respectively. 2. Experimental. 2.1 Nanocomposite preparation As part of this study, multiwall CNTs without any chemical functionalities were supplied by the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK). The nanotubes had been produced by chemical vapor deposition [9], and were of good quality. The length and width have yet to be fully characterized, although the average length was found to be relatively long at approximately 50 µ m, with a wide Fig 3: Logarithmic size distribution of carbon nanotube length distribution and diameters less than 100nm. aggregates after sonication. Carbon nanotubes/epoxy dispersions were produced with weight percentages less than 1%, using Gurit Prime 20LV resin, which is a bis-phenol A epoxy resin, and an aromatic, diamine curing agent. The nanotubes were added directly to the resin and sonicated. The dispersions were injection moulded Fig 1: Scanning electron micrograph image of Cambridge between two plates of glass to achieve a good nanotubes [10]. surface finish with desirable uniform thickness. The injected samples were cured for 16 hrs at 50 ° C. The long aspect ratio tubes were left as received, Following this cure cycle, the samples were while the shorter aspect ratios nanotubes were removed from the mould and were post-cured at obtained by ultrasoniction, using a SONICS VCX- 70°C to ensure the sample is completely cured. 750 sonicator with a half-wave extender. The tubes were sonicated in ethanol for 8 hours at 1-hour intervals at 65% amplitude, until the average aggregate length was ~5 µm [11] . Following sonication the nanotubes were dispersed in 1% SDBS solution and the size reduction of the nanotube aggregates were characterized using a Leica DMI3000B inverted optical microscope. Fig 4: shows the injection mould used and the cured nanocomposite specimen. 2.2. Mechanical and physical characterization Flexural test samples were cut using a diamond saw from the as-prepared samples. All test pieces were in accordance to ASTM D790, measuring ~13±0.4 mm in width, 3±0.3 mm thick and 80 mm in length. 3-point bend tests were carried out using Fig 2: shows the size variation of nanotube agglomerates following sonication treatments. an Instron 3343 with a 1 kN load cell. The span
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