A shear lag model of Piezoelectric composite reinforced with carbon nanotubes-coated Piezoelectric fibers

摘要

A novel hybrid piezoelectric composite in which the microscopic piezoelectric fiber reinforcements are coated with radially aligned carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) is analyzed in this study. A shear-lag model is developed to analyze the load transferred to such coated fibers from the aligned-CNT reinforced matrix in a hybrid composite application in the absence and the presence of the electric field along the length of the fiber. It is found that if the aligned CNTs are radially grown on the surface of the piezoelectric fiber then the axial load transferred to the fiber is reduced in the absence of the electric field while the axial stress in the fiber increases in the presence of the electric filed only. The radial stress in the active piezoelectric fiber significantly increases due to the radial growth of aligned CNTs on the surface of the fibers. This indicates a probable critical window for engineering the surface of the piezoelectric fiber for improving the effective piezoelectric properties. Effects of the variation of the aspect ratio of the piezoelectric fiber and the CNT volume fraction on the load transferred to such CNT-coated piezoelectric fibers are also investigated.