Fracture behavior of the carbon nanotube/carbon fiber/polymer multiscale composites under bending test - A stochastic finite element method

The behavior of L-shaped samples made of multi-scale carbon nanotube/carbon fiber reinforced polyethylene under the bending test is investigated by using the extended finite element method. The mechanical properties of the multi-scale composite are obtained by a stochastic finite element mode. Initially, molecular dynamics simulations are used to compute the mechanical properties of nanotubes at the nanoscale. Then, by using the finite element method, the properties of the carbon nanotube/polyethylene nanocomposite are obtained. Considering the mechanical properties of the matrix as the properties of nanotube reinforced polyethylene, the carbon fibers are included into the composites in the next scale.