Modeling of transversely isotropic properties of CNT-polymer composites using meso-scale FEM approach

The CNT based nano-composites usually behave as anisotropic materials. Elastic properties vary differently in global as well as material direction. This paper proposes an efficient computational methodology to predict effective orthotropic elastic properties of nanocomposites at diverse constituent conditions. The effective orthotropic material properties have been presented with the consideration of all possible conditions of composite matrix like elastic, elastoplastic and interfacial behavior. Mori-Tanaka (M-T) homogenization scheme has been implemented with finite element method (FEM) approach to predict the effective material properties of nanocomposites. In the presented study, CNTs are aligned and uniformly distributed throughout the composite matrix. The proposed computational methodology has been validated with available literature and further extended to investigate the effect of the diverse behavior of composite matrix. From the obtained numerical results, it has been seen that the matrix and filler interface significantly affect the effective elastic strength of polymer composites.