Effect of different functionalized carbon nanotubes on mechanical properties of MWCNTs-carbon fiber/epoxy composites

In order to study the effects of adding different functionalized carbon nanotubes on mechanical properties of epoxy, multi-walled carbon nanotubes with reactive amino groups(MWCNTs-EDA) were prepared by chemical processing on MWCNTs-COOH. MWCNTs-COOH and MWCNTs-EDA were dispersed in epoxy. T700 carbon fiber prepreg which epoxy containing carbon nanotubes was successfully produced by hot-melt method and then the quasi isotropic composite laminates were prepared. The results confirm that MWCNTs-EDA has better dispersion than MWCNTs-COOH. MWCNTs-EDA itself has curing reaction activity and exhibites a little effect on crosslinking density of matrix. Compared with MWCNTs-COOH, MWCNTs-EDA is more effective in enhancing the mechanical performance of epoxy and carbon fiber/epoxy composites. When the content of MWCNTs-EDA is 1.0wt%, the compression properties, flexural properties and compression strength after impact (CAI) of quasi isotropic MWCNTs-carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminates can be increased by 14.7%, 40.9% and 20.6%, respectively. ©, 2015, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA). All right reserved.