Glass Fiber/Carbon Nanotubes/Epoxy Three-Component Composites as Radar Absorbing Materials

The use of micro or nano-fillers to optimize the properties of epoxy resins has become a common practice. The Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are considered excellent fillers because of their strength, stiffness, thermal conductivity, electrical capacity, and thermal stability, along with large electromagnetic wave absorption capability in the microwave range. In this work, electromagnetic absorption properties and dynamic-mechanical response obtained with the incorporation of CNT into glass fiber/epoxy composites have been studied. A novel procedure to disperse and deposit CNT onto glass fiber fabrics has been developed to reach high overall content of CNT in the composite (4.15 wt%). Storage modulus increased with the incorporation of CNT, especially when they had also been incorporated into the epoxy, and for higher frequency (3 Hz). The response of the composites to electromagnetic radiation has shown an increasing trend for higher CNT content (up to 2 wt%), reaching an excellent attenuation value of up to 218.3 dB (98.5% of absorption). (C) 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers