Investigation of Vertically Oriented Carbon Nanotubes Materials at Interlaminar Region of Polyphenylene Sulfide Thermoplastic Composites

Abstract

This project investigates the combination of PPS thermoplastic UD and fabric composite materials with novel mass-produced vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) materials at the interlaminar region. There are two goals for this project, the first is to understand how the VACNT materials can be embedded and consolidated with the use of elevated temperatures and pressures and how that impacts the resulting morphology of the VACNTs. The second is to understand if VACNTs can increase the interlaminar related mechanical properties of the PPS composite materials similar to that seen with thermoset materials. Processes for embedding of VACNTs to a single ply was found to be possible and repeatable, though secondary multi-ply consolidation lead to matting of the VACNTs at the interlaminar layer. Subsequent mechanical testing showed that this matting of VACNTs led to a decrease in shear and compression strengths by 10.6% and 8.5% respectively against control specimens.