Investigation on design parameters of single-walled carbon nanotube reinforced nanocomposites under impact loads

Multi-scale material modeling is applied to investigate the effect of major design parameters of reinforcing agents in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) reinforced nanocomposites in impact loads. The influence of diameter, chirality and volume fraction (VF) of SWCNTs on impact behavior of different representative volume elements (RVEs) of nanocomposites is studied. SWCNTs are modeled through beam elements in space frame structures in finite element modeling (FEM) software based on their atomic structures in molecular mechanics. The RVEs are composed of various modeled SWCNTs embedded in an elastic medium as polymeric matrix. The various RVEs are exposed to a tensile impact load and the obtained responses are analyzed to evaluate the effective design parameters of SWCNTs in the nanocomposite structures. The results in the form of strain energy density and axial strain oscillations of RVEs in a time period after impact demonstrate a great improvement in the impact behavior of nanocomposites due to adding SWCNTs in matrix. Applying SWCNTs with smaller diameter in RVEs causes a better impact strength in nanocomposites. In design procedure of nanocomposites subject to the impact loads, it is better to concentrate on the size and the volume fraction of applied CNTs instead of their chirality. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.