Reinforcement of an epoxy resin by single walled nanotubes

The anisotropic shape and the very high stiffness of carbon nanotubes make them good candidates for the reinforcement of various materials. For instance polymer-nanotubes blends could be used as a new material but also as a matrix for carbon fibre composites in order to improve their mechanical properties, in particular under compressive loading. Tn this study, we have prepared several SWNTs-epoxy blends containing various SWNTs weight percentages (from 0 to 35%). Blends are themselves composite materials, observed and characterized by SEM, TEM and X-ray diffraction. Two methods are used to evaluate their stiffness: Vickers microindentation and three points bending tests. We observe a linear increase of the Young's modulus with the weight percentage of SWNTs. For comparison SWNTs purifted by a cross flow filtration process have also been used. The obtained results are discussed.