Characterization of Carbon Nanotube Based Composites under Consideration of Defects

Imagine how much control over resultant properties of a specific material you would have, if you could deposit each individual atom into a predefined arrangement toward a new material.

Carbon nanotubes have attracted significant attention since their discovery, as unique valuable nanostructures, with many outstanding properties, leading them toward being applied in a wide variety of novel and amazing applications. The extraordinary properties of carbon nanotubes stem mostly from their perfect hexagonal structure, as well as their high length to diameter or aspect ratio, which is specific to most of nanostructured materials. In other terms, nanomaterials are all uniquely beneficial in many of today’s emerging applications, only as a result of their high aspect ratio. This specific characteristic make them interact with their surrounding environment more efficiently, especially when it comes to adsorption properties and interaction in a gaseous environment. In this chapter, the structure of carbon nanotubes and the methods of fabricating them will be introduced and the defects associated with their structure will be explained in detail.

The idea of composites stem from the idea that by combining two or more distinct materials one may engineer a new material with properties that are a better combination of properties of the initial components. Composites, as schematically shown in Fig. 3.1, are engineered materials that consist of two or more insoluble phases combined together; a continuous phase, known as the matrix, as well as interdispersed components known as the reinforcing phase. The matrix is typically the major constituent that provides durability for the overall composite and it can be for instance, a metallic, a ceramic or a polymer material. The reinforcing inclusions are the structure’s load carriers that can be in the form of fibers, particles or flakes. This phase of the composite structure provides its stiffness and strength and hence, the properties of composites depend on the properties of each of these phases, the geometry of dispersed phase, i.e. their size, distribution and orientation, and finally the amount of each phase.

As one of the major classes of polymeric materials, various types of epoxies are used extensively in different engineering applications such as automotive and electronic industries. Epoxy-based composite materials have become proper substitutes for traditional materials like metals, metal alloys, wood, etc. due to their prominent properties such as lightness, ease of processing and relatively low cost. However, one of the major drawbacks in their increasing applications is their poor surface properties.

The use of fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPs) is enhancing in different engineering applications because of their high specific strength and stiffness.

Composite materials, with carbon nanotube inclusions as the composite’s reinforcing phase, are known to have many outstanding applications in the world of science and industry.