Bridging laws are essential in predicting the mechanical behaviour of conventional short-fibrereinforced composites and the emerging nanofibre-reinforced composites. In this paper, we first review some studies on the toughness of carbon nanotube-reinforced composites that is induced by the pull-out of the nanotubes from the matrix, and on the development of the corresponding bridging laws. A cl...

This paper reports large light-induced reversible and elastic responses of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) polymer composites. Homogeneous mixtures of GNP/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites (0.1-5 wt%) were prepared and their infrared (IR) mechanical responses studied with increasing pre-strains. Using IR illumination, a photomechanically induced change in stress of four orders of magnitude as ...

In the present work, we have investigated the concentration dependences of electrical conductivity of monopolymer composites with graphite nanoplatelets or multiwall carbon nanotubes and hybrid composites with both multiwall carbon nanotubes and graphite nanoplatelets. The latter filler was added to given systems in content of 0.24 vol%. The content of multiwall carbon nanotubes is varied from ...

In conventional manufacturing processes of composites, Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) laminates have been made by stacking unidirectional or woven prepreg sheets. Recently, as a manufacturing process of CFRP, 3D printing of CFRP composites has been developed. The 3D printing process of CFRP composites enables us to fabricate CFRP laminates with arbitrary curvilinear fibre plies. This in...

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have been successfully applied in various applications. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), one of popular AM techniques, is most widely used method for manufacturing of plastic materials. Due to the poor strength properties of pure plastic materials, there is a critical need to improve mechanical properties for FDMfabricated pure plastic parts. One of the ...

A series of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) coated carbon fabrics was fabricated using a facile dip coating process, and their performance in electrical conductivity, thermal stability, tensile strength, electromagnetic interference (EMI) and shielding effectiveness (SE) was investigated. A solution of MWCNT oxide and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in water was used in the coating process. M...

This paper studies the fracture behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced carbon matrix composites and its relation with the type of fibre-matrix interface developed in the composite. Model unidirectional carbon-carbon composites were prepared using the same type of fibre and different pitches as matrix precursors. These included both commercial pitches and synthesized in the laborato...

Nickel oxide (NiO) as one of the anode electrode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) has attracted considerable research attention. However, the poor electron conductivity and bad capacity retention performance greatly hinder its wide application. Herein, we prepared a novel three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous graphene@NiO@carbon composite via a simple solvothermal process, in whi...

This research describes the effects of shear flow-induced alignment of dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes in viscous polymer solutions and the application of this alignment strategy to produce epoxy-based composites with superior mechanical properties. Previously, it was shown that the use of an anionic surfactant (i.e. sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, NaDDBS) in conjunction with a weakly...

Galvanic Corrosion and Composites. “Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when it is in contact with a different type of metal and both metals are in an electrolyte [1].” Thus, corrosion of this type is always a concern when two different materials are to be in mutual contact. In the aerospace industry for instance, galvanic corrosion could ...