Since the development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991, they have received much attention with improved mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of their composites compared to common polymer composites. This study evaluated the effect of incorporating bundled and unbundled carbon nanotubes into Polyurethane/CNT/woven fiber reinforced composites. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used t...

The present paper aims to develop a micromechanics-based effective elastic model of functionally graded composites. At the macroscopic scale, effective material properties of the composites are uniform in the same graded layer while gradually changing along the grading direction. Microstructurally, infinite particles are randomly dispersed in the matrix with gradual transitions. Particles are a...

Thermoplastic elastomer/carbon nanotube composites are studied for sensor applications due to their excellent mechanical and electrical properties. Piezoresisitive properties of tri-block copolymer styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS)/ carbon nanotubes (CNT) prepared by solution casting have been investigated. Young modulus of the SBS/CNT composites increases with the amount of CNT filler content pr...

With the increased use of composites for load-carrying structures, the ability to obtain strain and damage information is critical to maintain reliable structures in the field. A promising class of multifunctional composites with the ability to self-sense strain and/or damage is possible through the use of carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes. This paper presents a comparative study of two sensor...

Aimed at the facile detection of lengthy DNA molecules, an easily operated sandwich-type electrochemiluminescence (ECL) DNA biosensor was constructed on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) based on CdTe quantum dots coated hollow ZnO nanoparticles (CdTe-ZnO NPs)-S(2)O(8)(2-) ECL system in this work. To fabricate a high-performance protocol, the GCE surface was successively modified by graphene nano...

This paper is devoted to the mechanics, modelling and analysis of fabric-reinforced composites and structural components. A theoretical and experimental characterisation of elastic properties of the textile composites is considered. Typical stress-strain diagrams for fibreglass fabric composites and composites reinforced with knitted fabrics loaded in tension at different angles are presented. ...

Natural composites exhibit exceptional mechanical performance that often arises from complex fiber arrangements within continuous matrices. Inspired by these natural systems, we developed a rotational 3D printing method that enables spatially controlled orientation of short fibers in polymer matrices solely by varying the nozzle rotation speed relative to the printing speed. Using this method, ...

Strain-rate effects in a unidirectional non-crimp fabric carbon/epoxy composite are addressed. To allow for kink-band formation including strain-rate and damage such composites, the paper advances recent model focused on compression loading at small off-axis angles. The is based computational homogenization with subscale represented by matrix fibre constituents finite deformation. constituent a...

The impact of a slug of dry sand particles against a metallic sandwich beam or circular sandwich plate is analysed in order to aid the design of sandwich panels for shock mitigation. The sand particles interact via a combined linear-spring-and-dashpot law whereas the face sheets and compressible core of the sandwich beam and plate are treated as rate-sensitive, elastic–plastic solids. The major...

The influence of fiberlmatrix interactions on the mechanical behavior of ceramic matrix composites is examined on glass matrix composites and mainly on composites made by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) of a fiber preform by a SiC matrix. Then the relationships between interfaces and features of the stress-strain behavior are highlighted on microcomposite specimens using experimental data and...