Advanced shock-resistant and vibration damping of nanoparticle-reinforced composite material

The focus in this paper is directed toward to thermal spraying fabrication and experimental validation of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite structures, providing processing route and design concepts. Sandwiched metal-polymer-ceramics coatings and moulded UHMW-PE polymer composites with carbon nanotubes were investigated at flexural tests and thermal cycling between +200 degrees C and -80 degrees C temperature. Carbon nanotubes were employed to reinforce the interfaces between polymer particles, enhancing composite stiffness as well as structural damping. Results on damping behavior and impact toughness of the composite sandwiches showed that CNT-reinforced samples have advanced impact strength and vibration damping properties over a wide temperature range. Experiments conducted using a vibrating clamped beam with the composite layers indicated up to 200% increase in the inherent damping level and 30% increase in the stiffness with some decrease (20-30%) in density of the composite. The cross-links between nanotubes and composite layers also served to improve load transfer within the network resulting in improved stiffness properties. The results are targeted for the application in aerospace and naval engineering. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.