Micromechanical analysis of influences of agglomerated carbon nanotube interphase on effective material properties of a three-phase piezoelectric nanocomposite

摘要

The focus of the present study is to investigate influences of the agglomerated nanotube interphase on the effective material properties of a three phase piezoelectric nanocomposite using a recently developed micromechanics framework, namely, variational asymptotic method for unit cell homogenization (VA-MUCH). The three phase nanocomposite is composed of PZT-7A fibers and epoxy matrix enhanced with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The effects of parameters of agglomerated nanotube interphase (caused by PZT fibers), such as properties and volume fraction, on effective dielectric constants of nanocomposite were analyzed.