Nano Composites – reinforcing material called fiber and a continuous matrix material.
The reinforcement material can be:
- Particulates: 0D
- Fibers: 1D, could be rods or whiskers
- Platelets: 2D
Pressure Molding – a composite sheet material made by sandwiching chopped fiberglass between two layers of thick resin paste. To form the sheet, the resin paste transfers from a metering device onto a moving film carrier. Chopped glass fibers drop onto the paste, and a second film carrier places another layer of resin on top of the glass. Rollers compact the sheet to saturate the glass with resin and squeeze out entrapped air.
Resin Transfer Molding –resin is injected under pressure.
Problems in CNT composites
- Adhesion between CNT and polymer matrix like epoxy
- Homogeneous dispersion in the matrix
- Aligned CNT along the loading direction
CNT-epoxy composites have an increased tensile strength and young’s modulus.
CNTs can be grown on a carbon fiber substrate using CVD