Comparing Damping Properties of Singlewalled and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Polymer Composites

In this paper we compare the damping properties of polymer nano-composites filled with singlewalled and multiwalled carbon nanotube fillers. The polymer material chosen for this study is polycarbonate (Lexan 121, General Electric). The nanotube fillers are dispersed in the matrix using a novel solution mixing technique with tetra-hydro-furan as the solvent. Both the multiwalled and the singlewalled nanotube filled samples show higher damping level compared to the pristine (or unfilled) polycarbonate. However, the loss modulus of nano-composite samples with singlewalled nanotubes is significantly greater than with multiwalled tubes. This suggests that since the inner shells of the multiwalled tubes are not in contact with the polymer, they do not contribute to interfacial frictional sliding; this reduces the damping efficiency of the multiwalled tubes relative to the singlewalled tubes.

[1]  P. Painter,et al.  Fundamentals of Polymer Science , 2019 .

[2]  R. Christie,et al.  Strength and Weakness , 2018, The Art of War.

[3]  Nikhil Koratkar,et al.  Viscoelasticity in carbon nanotube composites , 2005, Nature materials.

[4]  Xu Zhou,et al.  The investigation of carbon-nanotube-based polymers for improved structural damping , 2004, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

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

[6]  T. Chou,et al.  Aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube-reinforced composites: processing and mechanical characterization , 2002 .

[7]  N. Koratkar,et al.  Carbon Nanotube Films for Damping Applications , 2002 .

[8]  T. Chou,et al.  Advances in the science and technology of carbon nanotubes and their composites: a review , 2001 .

[9]  Angel Rubio,et al.  Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube–Polymer Composites: Strength and Weakness , 2000 .

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

[11]  P. Ajayan.  Nanotubes from Carbon. , 1999, Chemical reviews.

[12]  C. Dekker.  Carbon nanotubes as molecular quantum wires , 1999 .

[13]  Linda S. Schadler,et al.  LOAD TRANSFER IN CARBON NANOTUBE EPOXY COMPOSITES , 1998 .

[14]  Reshef Tenne,et al.  Stress-induced fragmentation of multiwall carbon nanotubes in a polymer matrix , 1998 .

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

[16]  K. W. Wang,et al.  Damping Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube Based Composites , 2003 .

[17]  R. Gupta,et al.  Fundamentals of polymers , 1998 .

[18]  T. Ebbesen,et al.  Exceptionally high Young's modulus observed for individual carbon nanotubes , 1996, Nature.

[19]  L. B. Ebert.  Science of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes , 1996 .