Analyzing the effects of interphase on the effective damping properties of aligned carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites using a micromechanical approach

Abstract

In this work, a micromechanical approach consisting of high-fidelity generalized method of cells (HFGMC) and Mori-Tanaka (M-T) model is proposed to calculate the damping properties of aligned carbon nanotube-epoxy nanocomposites. To determine the resultant directional specific damping coefficients, these models, by applying strain energy approach in the global system utilize each constituent’s specific damping coefficients and mechanical properties. The effects of interphase created in the contact region of the two initial phases—carbon nanotube and polymer matrix—are extensively investigated. Comparative studies show that the micromechanical results are in good agreement with experimental data. One major finding is the thickness and mechanical and damping properties of interphase significantly affect the overall specific damping coefficients of the carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites. It is found that by increasing the elastic modulus of the interphase, the longitudinal specific damping property continuously increases, while other components of damping, initially increase and then asymptotically decrease. The damping properties of polymer nanocomposites can be increased by increasing the interphase damping capacity. However, the rise of interphase thickness leads to a reduction of nanocomposite damping properties. Also, the influences of carbon nanotube volume fraction and radius are examined on the damping response of polymer nanocomposites.