• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.269-275
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• 2016

Multiscale hybrid composites, which consist of polymeric resins, microscale fibers and nanoscale reinforcements, have drawn significant attention in the field of advanced, high-performance materials. Despite their advantages, multiscale hybrid composites show challenges associated with nanomaterial dispersion, viscosity, interfacial bonding and load transfer, and orientation control. In this paper, carbon nanotube(CNT)/carbon fiber(CF)/polycarbonate(PC) multiscale hybrid composite were fabricated by a solution process to overcome the difficulties associated with controlling the melt viscosity of thermoplastic resins. The dependence of CNT loading was studied by varying the method to add CNTs, i.e., impregnation of CF with CNT/PC/solvent solution and impregnation of CNT-coated CF with PC/solvent solution. In addition, hybrid composites were fabricated through surfactant-aided CNT dispersion followed by vacuum filtration. The morphologies of the surfaces of hybrid composites, as analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, revealed the quality of PC impregnation depends on the processing method. Dynamic mechanical analysis was performed to evaluate their mechanical performance. It was analyzed that if the position of the value of tan ${\delta}$ is closer to the ideal line, the adhesion between polymer and carbon fiber is stronger. The effect of mechanical interlocking has a great influence on the dynamic mechanical properties of the composites with CNT-coated CF, which indicates that coating CF with CNTs is a suitable method to fabricate CNT/CF/PC hybrid composites.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.11-19
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• 2022

This paper presents the effects of high temperature and water absorption on the mechanical behaviors of carbon-aramid fiber composites, specifically their strength, elastic modulus, and fracture. These composites are used in industrial structures because of their high specific strength and toughness. Carbon fiber composites are vulnerable to the impact force of external objects despite their excellent properties. Aramid fibers have high elongation and impact absorption capabilities. Accordingly, a hybrid composite with the complementary properties and capabilities of carbon and aramid fibers is fabricated. However, the exposure of aramid fiber to water or heat typically deteriorates its mechanical properties. In view of this, tensile and flexural tests were conducted on a twill woven carbon-aramid fiber hybrid composite to investigate the effects of high temperature and water absorption. Moreover, a multiscale analysis of the stress behavior of the composite's microstructure was implemented. The results show that the elastic modulus of composites subjected to high temperature and water absorption treatments decreased by approximately 22% and 34%, respectively, compared with that of the composite under normal conditions. The crack behavior of the composites was well identified under the specimen conditions.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.25-30
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• 2011

This paper presents an experimental study on the enhancement of electromagnetic shielding (EMI) properties of glass fiber, carbon fiber, and glass-carbon fiber composites by adding layers of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In the case of glass-fiber composites, spraying 0.1~0.2 g of MWCNT over a fiber area of $200mm{\times}200mm$ (1.8~3.6 ${\mu}m$ in thickness) resulted in significant improvement in EMI shielding effectiveness (SE). Also, when applying multiple MWCNT layers, it was more effective to place the layers concentrated near the center of the composite rather than spreading them out. On the contrary, inherently conductive carbon fiber and glass-carbon fiber composites did not show appreciable improvement with the addition of MWCNT layers. In order to maximize the effectiveness of carbon nanomaterials as EMI shielding fillers, it is imperative to understand the effect of these materials on various EMI shielding mechanisms and their interactions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.707-720
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• 2022

In the present work, bending and free vibration analyses of multilayered functionally graded (FG) graphene platelet (GPL) and fiber-reinforced hybrid composite beams are carried out using the parabolic function based shear deformation theory. Parabolic variation of transverse shear stress across the thickness of beam and transverse shear stress-free conditions at top and bottom surfaces of the beam are considered, and the proposed formulation incorporates a transverse displacement field. The present theory works only with four unknowns and is computationally efficient. Hamilton's principle has been employed for deriving the governing equations. Analytical solutions are obtained for both the bending and free vibration problems in the present work considering different variations of GPLs and fibers distribution, namely, FG-X, FG-U, FG-Λ, and FG-O for beams having simply-supported boundary condition. First, the matrix is assumed to be strengthened using GPLs, and then the fibers are embedded. Multiscale modeling for material properties of functionally graded graphene platelet/fiber hybrid composites (FG-GPL/FHRC) is performed using Halpin-Tsai micromechanical model. The study reveals that the distributions of GPLs and fibers have significant impacts on the stresses, deflections, and natural frequencies of the beam. The number of layers and shape factors widely affect the behavior of FG-GPL-FHRC beams. The multilayered FG-GPL-FHRC beams turn out to be a good approximation to the FG beams without exhibiting the stress-channeling effects.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.415-420
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• 2020

The interfacial properties in carbon fiber composites, which control the overall mechanical properties of the composites, are very important. Effective interface enhancement work is conducted on the modification of the carbon fiber surface with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Nonetheless, most surface modifications methods do have their own drawbacks such as high temperatures with a range of 600~1000℃, which should be implemented for CNT growth on carbon fibers that can cause carbon fiber damages affecting deterioration of composites properties. This study includes the use of in-situ interfacial polymerization of polyamide 610/CNT to fabricate the carbon fiber composites. The process is very fast and continuous and can disperse CNTs with random orientation in the interface resulting in enhanced interfacial properties. Scanning electron microscopy was conducted to investigate the CNT dispersion and composites morphology, and the thermal stability of the composites was analyzed via thermogravimetric analysis. In addition, fiber pull-out tests were used to assess interfacial strength between fiber and matrix.

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.188-195
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• 2022

This paper proposes a multiscale process-structural analysis methodology and applies to a battery housing part made of the short fiber-reinforced and fabric-reinforced composite layers. In particular, uncertainties of the material properties within the microscale representative volume element (RVE) were considered. The random spatial distribution of matrix properties in the microscale RVE was realized by the Karhunen-Loeve Expansion (KLE) method. Then, effective properties of the RVE reflecting on spatially varying matrix properties were obtained by the computational homogenization and mapped to a macroscale FE (finite element) model. Morever, through the hybrid process simulation, a FE (finite element) model mapping residual stress and fiber orientation from compression molding simulation is combined with one mapping fiber orientation from the draping process simulation. The proposed method is expected to rigorously evaluate the design requirements of the battery housing part and composite materials having various material configurations.