IMPROVED THERMOELASTIC COEFFICIENTS OF A NOVEL SHORT FUZZY FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITE WITH WAVY CARBON NANOTUBES

The elastic response of a novel short fuzzy fiber-reinforced composite (SFFRC) has recently been investigated by the authors (Mech. Mater. 53 (2012), 47-60). The distinctive feature of the construction of this novel SFFRC is that straight carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are radially grown on the circumferential surfaces of unidirectional short carbon fiber reinforcements. The waviness of CNTs is intrinsic to many manufacturing processes and plays an important role in the thermomechanical behavior of CNT-reinforced composites. However, the effect of the waviness of CNTs on the thermoelastic response of a SFFRC has yet to be investigated. Therefore, we investigate the effect of wavy CNTs on the thermoelastic properties of this SFFRC, revealing that the axial thermoelastic coefficients of the SFFRC significantly increase when the wavy CNTs are coplanar with the longitudinal plane of the carbon fibers for higher values of the waviness factor and wave frequency of the CNTs. The effective values of the thermal expansion coefficients of this SFFRC are also found to be sensitive to change in temperature.