Modeling carbon nanotube reinforced composite materials with the cylindrical method of cells

摘要

Micromechanics modeling, utilizing a cylindrical method of cells (CMOC) model, is employed to obtain the effective mechanical properties of an elastic transversely isotropic, isothermal material system consisting of a hollow carbon nanotube (CNT) embedded in an isotropic polymeric material matrix. It is shown that weak interfacial bonding between the CNT and polymeric matrix, which is characteristic of this type of material system, can be modeled with the CMOC. Numerical solutions of the effective independent material constants are obtained, based upon appropriate values of the properties of the carbon nanotube and epoxy matrix. The numerical results are presented graphically and compared with corresponding classical closed-form solutions. Copyright (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.