A critical review on nanotube and nanotube/nanoclay related polymer composite materials

Abstract Since the last decade, research activities in the area of nano-materials have been increased dramatically. More than a 1000 of journal articles in this area have been published within the last 3 years. Materials scientists and researchers have realized that the mechanical properties of materials can be altered at the fundamental level, i.e. the atomic-scale. Carbon nanotubes (hereafter called ‘nanotubes’) have been well recognized as nano-structural materials that can be used to alter mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of polymer-based composite materials, because of their superior properties and perfect atom arrangement. In general, scientific research related to the nanotubes and their co-related polymer based composites can be distinguished into four particular scopes: (i) production of high purity and controllable nanotubes, in terms of their size, length and chiral arrangement; (ii) enhancement of interfacial bonding strength between the nanotubes and their surrounding matrix; (iii) control of the dispersion properties and alignment of the nanotubes in nanotube/polymer composites and (iv) applications of the nanotubes in real life. Although, so many remarkable results in the above items have been obtained recently, no concluding results have so far been finalized. In this paper, a critical review on recent research related to nanotube/polymer composites is given. Newly-adopted coiled nanotubes used to enhance the interfacial bonding strength of nanocomposites are also discussed. Moreover, the growth of nanotubes from nanoclay substrates to form exfoliated nanotube/nanoclay polymer composites is also introduced in detail.

[1]  R. Ruoff,et al.  Strength and breaking mechanism of multiwalled carbon nanotubes under tensile load , 2000, Science.

[2]  G. Odegard,et al.  Constitutive Modeling of Nanotube- Reinforced Polymer Composite Systems , 2001 .

[3]  J. Wei,et al.  Tensile properties of long aligned double-walled carbon nanotube strands , 2005 .

[4]  K. Liao,et al.  Interfacial characteristics of a carbon nanotube–polystyrene composite system , 2001 .

[5]  R. Nemanich,et al.  Multi-walled carbon nanotube interactions with human epidermal keratinocytes. , 2005, Toxicology letters.

[6]  David Hui,et al.  Effectiveness of using carbon nanotubes as nano-reinforcements for advanced composite structures , 2002 .

[7]  T. Belytschko,et al.  Atomistic simulations of nanotube fracture , 2002 .

[8]  Elizabeth C. Dickey,et al.  Load transfer and deformation mechanisms in carbon nanotube-polystyrene composites , 2000 .

[9]  F. Delale,et al.  Effect of CNT length and CNT-matrix interphase in carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced composites☆ , 2005 .

[10]  Lian Gao,et al.  Novel in situ synthesis of MWNTs-hydroxyapatite composites , 2004 .

[11]  Huajian Gao,et al.  Size-dependent elastic properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube via a molecular mechanics model , 2003 .

[12]  Erik Dujardin,et al.  Young's modulus of single-walled nanotubes , 1998 .

[13]  H. Wagner.  Nanotube-polymer adhesion: a mechanics approach , 2002 .

[14]  S. Tsai,et al.  Tubes on tube—a novel form of aligned carbon nanotubes , 2002 .

[15]  Tsu-Wei Chou,et al.  Elastic moduli of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and the effect of van der Waals forces , 2003 .

[16]  J. Bernholc,et al.  Nanomechanics of carbon tubes: Instabilities beyond linear response. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[17]  Ho Gyu Yoon,et al.  Electrical conductivity of chemically modified multiwalled carbon nanotube/epoxy composites , 2005 .

[18]  M. Abdel-Goad,et al.  Fire behaviour of polyamide 6/multiwall carbon nanotube nanocomposites , 2005 .

[19]  K. Liao,et al.  Physical interactions at carbon nanotube-polymer interface , 2003 .

[20]  K. Lau,et al.  Stretching process of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for nanocomposite applications , 2004 .

[21]  A. Haque,et al.  Theoretical study of stress transfer in carbon nanotube reinforced polymer matrix composites , 2005 .

[22]  Rodney S. Ruoff,et al.  Mechanical and thermal properties of carbon nanotubes , 1995 .

[23]  K. Lau,et al.  Coiled carbon nanotubes growth and DSC study in epoxy-based composites , 2005 .

[24]  David Hui,et al.  The revolutionary creation of new advanced materials - Carbon nanotube composites , 2002 .

[25]  Jerry D. Harris,et al.  Carbon nanotubes for power applications , 2005 .

[26]  Sidney R. Cohen,et al.  Detachment of nanotubes from a polymer matrix , 2002 .

[27]  Xin-Lin Gao,et al.  A shear-lag model for carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer composites , 2005 .

[28]  C. Shearwood,et al.  Mechanical properties and interfacial characteristics of carbon-nanotube-reinforced epoxy thin films , 2002 .

[29]  Huajian Gao,et al.  Fracture Nucleation in Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Under Tension: A Continuum Analysis Incorporating Interatomic Potentials , 2002 .

[30]  Paraskevas Papanikos,et al.  Finite element modeling of single-walled carbon nanotubes , 2005 .

[31]  David Hui,et al.  On the effective elastic moduli of carbon nanotubes for nanocomposite structures , 2004 .

[32]  K. Lau.  Interfacial bonding characteristics of nanotube/polymer composites , 2003 .

[33]  Sidney R. Cohen,et al.  Measurement of carbon nanotube-polymer interfacial strength , 2003 .

[34]  Shouzhuo Yao,et al.  Fabrication of polyaniline/carbon nanotube composite modified electrode and its electrocatalytic property to the reduction of nitrite , 2005 .

[35]  Amitesh Maiti,et al.  Electronic transport through carbon nanotubes: effects of structural deformation and tube chirality. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[36]  Yang Wang,et al.  Direct Mechanical Measurement of the Tensile Strength and Elastic Modulus of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes , 2002, Microscopy and Microanalysis.

[37]  Yijun Liu,et al.  Continuum Models of Carbon Nanotube-Based Composites Using the Boundary Element Method , 2007 .

[38]  Praveen C. Ramamurthy,et al.  Polyaniline/single-walled carbon nanotube composite electronic devices , 2004 .

[39]  Jianping Lu,et al.  Elastic properties of single and multilayered nanotubes , 1997 .

[40]  Van Haesendonck C,et al.  Imaging the elastic properties of coiled carbon nanotubes with atomic force microscopy , 2000, Physical review letters.

[41]  S. Iijima.  Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon , 1991, Nature.

[42]  Z. C. Tu,et al.  Single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotubes viewed as elastic tubes with the effective Young's moduli dependent on layer number , 2001, cond-mat/0112454.

[43]  K. Lau,et al.  Formation and growth mechanism of dissimilar coiled carbon nanotubes by reduced-pressure catalytic chemical vapor deposition. , 2004, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[44]  Gregory M. Odegard,et al.  Constitutive Modeling of Nanotube-Reinforced Polymer Composites , 2002 .

[45]  K. Lau,et al.  Effect of ultrasound sonication in nanoclay clusters of nanoclay/epoxy composites , 2005 .

[46]  Mei Lu,et al.  Thermal and mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube bundle-reinforced epoxy nanocomposites : the role of solvent for nanotube dispersion , 2005 .

[47]  K. Mukhopadhyay,et al.  Conversion of carbon nanotubes to carbon nanofibers by sonication , 2002 .

[48]  Toshiaki Natsuki,et al.  Prediction of elastic properties for single-walled carbon nanotubes , 2004 .

[49]  Hui-Ming Cheng,et al.  The growth of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with different morphologies on carbon fibers , 2005 .

[50]  Mary C. Boyce,et al.  Mechanics of deformation of single- and multi-wall carbon nanotubes , 2004 .

[51]  M. Strano,et al.  Sonication-induced changes in chiral distribution: A complication in the use of single-walled carbon nanotube fluorescence for determining species distribution , 2005 .

[52]  Bing-Lin Gu,et al.  First-principles study on morphology and mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube , 2001 .

[53]  Hui-Ming Cheng,et al.  Tensile strength of single-walled carbon nanotubes directly measured from their macroscopic ropes , 2000 .

[54]  R. Ruoff,et al.  Mechanical and thermal properties of carbon nanotubes , 1995 .

[55]  K. Lau,et al.  Cobalt hydroxide colloidal particles precipitation on nanoclay layers for the formation of novel nanocomposites of carbon nanotubes/nanoclay , 2006 .