The Thermal Instability Analysis of Functionally Graded Carbon Nanotube Composite Plates using Finite Element Method

摘要

In recent years carbon nanotube (CNT) has been combined with polymers to take advantage of the extremely high strength and stiffness of the CNT. This paper reports a study on the thermal instability of carbon nanotube reinforced composites (CNTRC) plate subjected to uniform temperature rise. Finite element method (FEM) formulation was developed based on the first order shear deformation theory. The extended rule of mixture was used to determine the effective properties of the CNTRC plate. The CNTRC plate was functionally graded in its thickness direction. The results of the thermal instability were validated using past results and several parametric studies were then conducted using the developed formulation. The parametric studies showed that the critical temperature of the CNTRC was increased with the increase of the CNT volume fraction and the FG-4 configuration gave the highest critical temperature.