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A special issue of Journal of Composites Science (ISSN 2504-477X). This special issue belongs to the section "Carbon Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (16 December 2019) | Viewed by 36432

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Dr. Maria da Conceição Paiva

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Department of Polymers Engineering, University of Minho, Campus of Azurém, 4804-533 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: carbon nanomaterials—surfaces and interfaces; polymer nanocomposites—preparation and characterization; nanostructured composites; few-layer graphene production; plastics waste—recycling and microplastics analysis
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Dear Colleagues,

After almost three decades of research, the control of carbon nanotube properties as well as their production capacity have increased enormously. The commercial availability and remarkable properties of these all-carbon nanomaterials have made their effective industrial application possible. The most interesting applications arise from the combination of carbon nanotubes with polymers. Polymer composites have been produced by solution methods, during in situ polymerization, or using industrial thermoplastic and rubber processing technologies. Electrically conductive composites were formed at a low nanotube content, the mechanical properties were increased relative to the host polymer, and conductive inks and adhesives were produced. Electrically conductive composite filaments able to form conductive parts by additive manufacturing, or conductive composites that are almost capable of enabling electromagnetic shielding or thermoelectric generators, have been developed in the past years.

Contributions to this Special Issue are expected to report on the developments of carbon nanotube-based polymer composites for high performance applications, such as the mechanical performance at a reduced weight, protection against corrosion, fire retardancy enhancement, a wide range of sensing applications, thermal management, electrical conductivity, electromagnetic shielding, and for general custom and sustainable applications. Research articles, reviews, and communications are welcome.

Dr. Maria C. Paiva
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Carbon nanotubes
Polymers
Sensing applications
Electromagnetic shielding
Thermoelectric effect
Conductive glues
Structural reinforcement
Additive manufacturing
High performance applications

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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19 pages, 8976 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mixed Carbon Nanomaterial/Epoxy Resin for Electrically Conductive Adhesives

by Paulo E. Lopes, Duarte Moura, Loic Hilliou, Beate Krause, Petra Pötschke, Hugo Figueiredo, Ricardo Alves, Emmanuel Lepleux, Louis Pacheco and Maria C. Paiva

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(3), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4030105 - 1 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3038

Abstract

The increasing complexity of printed circuit boards (PCBs) due to miniaturization, increased the density of electronic components, and demanding thermal management during the assembly triggered the research of innovative solder pastes and electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs). Current commercial ECAs are typically based on epoxy matrices with a high load (>60%) of silver particles, generally in the form of microflakes. The present work reports the production of ECAs based on epoxy/carbon nanomaterials using carbon nanotubes (single and multi-walled) and exfoliated graphite, as well as hybrid compositions, within a range of concentrations. The composites were tested for morphology (dispersion of the conductive nanomaterials), electrical and thermal conductivity, rheological characteristics and deposition on a test PCB. Finally, the ECA’s shelf life was assessed by mixing all the components and conductive nanomaterials, and evaluating the cure of the resin before and after freezing for a time range up to nine months. The ECAs produced could be stored at −18 °C without affecting the cure reaction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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11 pages, 2574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dual In-Situ Water Diffusion Monitoring of GFRPs based on Optical Fibres and CNTs

by Cristian Marro Bellot, Giulia de Leo, Han Zhang, Arnaud Kernin, Claudio Scarponi, Marco Sangermano, Massimo Olivero, Emiliano Bilotti and Milena Salvo

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(3), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4030097 - 23 Jul 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1972

Abstract

Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GRFP) composites are increasingly being used as new materials for civil and petrochemical engineering infrastructures, owing to the combination of relatively high specific strength and stiffness and cost-competitiveness over traditional materials. However, practical concerns remain on the environmental stability of these materials in harsh environments. For instance, diffusion of salty water through the composites can trigger degradation and ageing. For this reason, a continuous monitoring of the integrity of GFRP composites is required. GRFPs health monitoring solutions, being non-destructive, in-situ, real-time, highly reliable and remotely controllable, are as desirable as challenging. Herein we develop and compare two methods for real-time monitoring of GRFP: one based on the electrical sensing signals of percolated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) networks and the other on optical fibre sensors (OFSs). As a proof-of-concept of dual sensory system, both sensors were used in combination to detect the diffusion of water through the composite. Measurements demonstrated that both CNTs and OFSs were able to detect water diffusion through the epoxy matrix successfully, with an on-off sensing behaviour. OFSs exhibit some advantages since they do not require electrical supply as required in hazardous environments and are more suitable for remote operation, which make them attractive for new developments in harsh-environment sensing. On the other hand, CNTs can be easily embedded in the composite without compromising its performance (e.g., mechanical properties) and are easily interrogated by measurement of electrical conductance, therefore could be used as spot sensors in the most failure-prone sections of GFRP components. This study opens up the possibility for an early detection of composites degradation, which could prevent failures in GFRP structures such as pipelines and storage tanks used in the oil and gas industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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18 pages, 3999 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Non-Isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Injection Grade PHBV and PHBV/Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposites Using Isoconversional Method

by Thaís Larissa do Amaral Montanheiro, Beatriz Rossi Canuto de Menezes, Larissa Stieven Montagna, Cesar Augusto Gonçalves Beatrice, Juliano Marini, Ana Paula Lemes and Gilmar Patrocínio Thim

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4020052 - 11 May 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2287

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNT)-reinforced polymeric composites are being studied as promising materials due to their enhanced properties. However, understanding the behavior of polymers during non-isothermal crystallization is important once the degree of crystallinity and crystallization processes are affected when nanoparticles are added to matrices. Usually, crystallization kinetics studies are performed using a model-fitting method, though the isoconversional method allows to obtain the kinetics parameter without assuming a crystallization model. Therefore, in this work, CNTs were oxidized (CNT-Ox) and functionalized with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) (CNT-GB) and incorporated into a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) matrix. The influence of the addition and functionalization of CNT in the crystallization kinetics of PHBV was evaluated using the isoconversional method with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and by polarized light optical microscopy (PLOM) and Shore D hardness. The incorporation and functionalization of CNT into PHBV matrix did not change the Šesták and Berggren crystallization model; however, the lowest activation energy was obtained for the composite produced with CNT-GB, suggesting a better dispersion into the PHBV matrix. PLOM and Shore D hardness confirmed the results obtained in the kinetics study, showing the smallest crystallite size for CNT-containing nanocomposites and the highest hardness value for the composite produced with CNT-GB. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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16 pages, 2535 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Strength and Toughness of Hierarchical Composites through Optimization of Position and Orientation of Nanotubes: A Computational Study

by Qiang Liu, Stepan V. Lomov and Larissa Gorbatikh

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(2), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4020034 - 31 Mar 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2654

Abstract

Hierarchical composites that combine microscopic fibers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offer opportunities to further improve mechanical properties. Motivated by the experimental evidence that the spatial distribution of CNTs has a significant effect on the strength and toughness of these composites, we developed a novel modelling tool to help us explore mechanisms of strengthening and toughening in an efficient way. The spatial position and orientation of CNTs are chosen as design variables and their optimization is performed on the example of a unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) subjected to transverse tensile loading. The model relies on the use of genetic algorithm and finite element method. Our modelling results show that the CNT network with an optimized morphology suppresses stress concentrations in the matrix near the fibers. The optimized morphology is shown to activate a new strengthening and toughening mechanism—diffusion of damage at micro-scale. It allows substantial increase in the consumption of the strain energy by matrix cracking, delocalization of damage, and with it, improvement of the strength and toughness. When the network morphology of 1.0 wt% of CNTs is optimized, the strength and toughness are increased by 49% and 65%, respectively, compared to the pristine FRC. The same amount of homogenously distributed CNTs in the composite leads to only 2% of the strength increase accompanied by a 13% decrease in toughness. The work emphasizes the importance of optimizing spatial position and orientation of CNTs for the strength and toughness improvements of composites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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10 pages, 7485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Geometry and Chemical Composition of Nanoparticles on The Fracture Toughness of iPP Nanocomposites

by Nadya Stern, Xiao Hu and Gad Marom

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4010024 - 29 Feb 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

This research deals with possible hybrid effects in the fracture energy of hybrid nanocomposites while taking a critical approach toward the currently-prevailing engineering practice of applying classical composite micromechanics to nanocomposites. For this purpose, different nanoparticles were embedded in an isotactic polypropylene matrix. The particles had different geometries (fibrous and platelets) and different chemical structures (organic vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCF); graphene nanoplatelets (GNP); and inorganic nanoclays, SiO₂ nanofibers, and ZrO₂ nanofibers). Almost all the composite systems presented improvements in the fracture energy, whereas the iPP/VGCF/GNP presented a positive hybrid effect. The main conclusion was that each nanocomposite system should be analyzed individually according to the constituent properties; the quality of the dispersion; and, primarily, by the type of interaction between the particles and the matrix. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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14 pages, 2344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydrothermal Carbon/Carbon Nanotube Composites as Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

by Rafael G. Morais, Natalia Rey-Raap, Rui S. Costa, Clara Pereira, Alexandra Guedes, José L. Figueiredo and M. Fernando R. Pereira

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4010020 - 17 Feb 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3122

Abstract

The oxygen reduction reaction is an essential reaction in several energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and batteries. So far, the best performance is obtained by using platinum-based electrocatalysts, which make the devices really expensive, and thus, new and more affordable materials should be designed. Biomass-derived carbons were prepared by hydrothermal carbonization in the presence of carbon nanotubes with different oxygen surface functionalities to evaluate their effect on the final properties. Additionally, nitrogen functional groups were also introduced by ball milling the carbon composite together with melamine. The oxygen groups on the surface of the carbon nanotubes favor their dispersion into the precursor mixture and the formation of a more homogenous carbon structure with higher mechanical strength. This type of structure partially avoids the crushing of the nanotubes and the carbon spheres during the ball milling, resulting in a carbon composite with enhanced electrical conductivity. Undoped and N-doped composites were used as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. The onset potential increases by 20% due to the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nitrogen, which increases the number of active sites and improves the chemical reactivity, while the limiting current density increases by 47% due to the higher electrical conductivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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17 pages, 1945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube/Polypropylene Composites with Negative Seebeck Coefficient

by Beate Krause, Ioannis Konidakis, Mohammad Arjmand, Uttandaraman Sundararaj, Robert Fuge, Marco Liebscher, Silke Hampel, Maxim Klaus, Efthymis Serpetzoglou, Emmanuel Stratakis and Petra Pötschke

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4010014 - 28 Jan 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3717

Abstract

This study describes the application of multi-walled carbon nanotubes that were nitrogen-doped during their synthesis (N-MWCNTs) in melt-mixed polypropylene (PP) composites. Different types of N-MWCNTs, synthesized using different methods, were used and compared. Four of the five MWCNT grades showed negative Seebeck coefficients (S), indicating n-type charge carrier behavior. All prepared composites (with a concentration between 2 and 7.5 wt% N-MWCNTs) also showed negative S values, which in most cases had a higher negative value than the corresponding nanotubes. The S values achieved were between 1.0 μV/K and −13.8 μV/K for the N-MWCNT buckypapers or powders and between −4.7 μV/K and −22.8 μV/K for the corresponding composites. With a higher content of N-MWCNTs, the increase in electrical conductivity led to increasing values of the power factor (PF) despite the unstable behavior of the Seebeck coefficient. The highest power factor was achieved with 4 wt% N-MWCNT, where a suitable combination of high electrical conductivity and acceptable Seebeck coefficient led to a PF value of 6.1 × 10⁻³ µW/(m·K²). First experiments have shown that transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) is a useful tool to study the carrier transfer process in CNTs in composites and to correlate it with the Seebeck coefficient. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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15 pages, 5328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does the Type of Polymer and Carbon Nanotube Structure Control the Electromagnetic Shielding in Melt-Mixed Polymer Nanocomposites?

by Sourav Biswas, Tanyaradzwa S. Muzata, Beate Krause, Piotr Rzeczkowski, Petra Pötschke and Suryasarathi Bose

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4010009 - 15 Jan 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3007

Abstract

A suitable polymer matrix and well dispersed conducting fillers forming an electrically conducting network are the prime requisites for modern age electromagnetic shield designing. An effective polymer-based shield material is designed that can attenuate 99.9% of incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation at a minimum thickness of <0.5 mm. This is accomplished by the choice of a suitable partially crystalline polymer matrix while comparing non-polar polypropylene (PP) with polar polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and a best suited filler nanomaterial by comparing different types of carbon nanotubes such as; branched, single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which were added in only 2 wt %. Different types of interactions (polar-polar and CH-π and donor-acceptor) make b-MWCNT more dispersible in the PVDF matrix, which together with high crystallinity resulted in the best electrical conductivity and electromagnetic shielding ability of this composite. This investigation additionally conceals the issues related to the thickness of the shield material just by stacking individual thin nanocomposite layers containing different carbon nanotube (CNT) types with 0.3 mm thickness in a simple manner and finally achieves 99.999% shielding efficiency at just 0.9 mm thickness when using a suitable order of the different PVDF based nanocomposites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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16 pages, 7760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multifunctional Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Structural Composites with Improved Toughness and Damage Monitoring

by Colin Robert, Isabelle Pillin, Mickaël Castro and Jean-Francois Feller

J. Compos. Sci. 2019, 3(4), 109; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs3040109 - 17 Dec 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4722

Abstract

The potential of carbon nanotubes (CNT) as multifunctional filler in poly(epoxy)-based structural composites has been investigated. In a first step the reinforcement effect of CNT has been studied by tensile and three points bending tests, which evidenced significant improvements of stress and strain at break (respectively +17% and +30% for tensile tests on unidirectional carbon fibre-epoxy composites). Moreover, fracture experiments have also revealed a positive effect of CNT on the toughness (G_1c) of carbon fibres-epoxy composites (+105% of improvement at the initial stage). In a second step, the health monitoring capability quantum resistive strain sensors (sQRS) made of CNT filled epoxy nanocomposite, incorporated in the core of glass fibres-epoxy composites has been studied. It was shown that during cyclic tensile tests, following the evolution of the relative resistance amplitude (A_r) of sQRS with strain gives a pertinent information on non-reversible phenomena such as plastic deformation and cracks’ development within the composite. In particular, the evolution of the sQRS sensitivity (gauge factor GF) under and over the elastic limit, allows to track damage accumulation throughout the composite. These results suggest a possible use of sQRS for the structural health monitoring (SHM) of composites in fields such as boating, wind energy, aeronautics and automotive. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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18 pages, 2360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Screening of Different Carbon Nanotubes in Melt-Mixed Polymer Composites with Different Polymer Matrices for Their Thermoelectrical Properties

by Beate Krause, Carine Barbier, Juhasz Levente, Maxim Klaus and Petra Pötschke

J. Compos. Sci. 2019, 3(4), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs3040106 - 7 Dec 2019

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 4155

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the influences of carbon nanotube (CNT) and polymer type as well as CNT content on electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient (S), and the resulting power factor (PF) and figure of merit (ZT). Different commercially available and laboratory made CNTs were used to prepare melt-mixed composites on a small scale. CNTs typically lead to p-type composites with positive S-values. This was found for the two types of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNT) whereby higher Seebeck coefficient in the corresponding buckypapers resulted in higher values also in the composites. Nitrogen doped MWCNTs resulted in negative S-values in the buckypapers as well as in the polymer composites. When using single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) with a positive S-value in the buckypapers, positive (polypropylene (PP), polycarbonate (PC), poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT)) or negative (polyamide 66 (PA66), polyamide 6 (PA6), partially aromatic polyamide (PARA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)) S-values were obtained depending on the matrix polymer and SWCNT type. The study shows that the direct production of n-type melt-mixed polymer composites from p-type commercial SWCNTs with relatively high Seebeck coefficients is possible. The highest Seebeck coefficients obtained in this study were 66.4 µV/K (PBT/7 wt % SWCNT Tuball) and −57.1 µV/K (ABS/0.5 wt % SWCNT Tuball) for p- and n-type composites, respectively. The highest power factor and ZT of 0.28 µW/m·K² and 3.1 × 10⁻⁴, respectively, were achieved in PBT with 4 wt % SWCNT Tuball. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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25 pages, 3853 KiB

Open AccessReview

Health and Safety Concerns Related to CNT and Graphene Products, and Related Composites

by Susana P.B. Sousa, Tânia Peixoto, Raquel M. Santos, Ascensão Lopes, Maria da Conceição Paiva and António T. Marques

J. Compos. Sci. 2020, 4(3), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs4030106 - 4 Aug 2020

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 4543

Abstract

The use of Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) and Graphene increased in the last decade and it is likely to keep increasing in the near future. The attractiveness of their properties, particularly the possibility to enhance the composites performance using a tailor made methodology, brings new materials, processes and products for highly demanding industrial applications and to the market. However, there are quite a lot of health/safety issues, as well as lack of understanding and standards to evaluate their effects. This paper starts with a general description of materials, processes and products dealing with CNT and graphene. Then, an overview of concerns related to the health and safety when handling, researching, producing and using products that include these materials is presented. It follows a risk management approach with respect to simulation and evaluation tools, and considering the consensual limits already existing for research, industry and consumers. A general discussion integrating the relevant aspects of health and safety with respect to CNT and graphene is also presented. A proactive view is presented with the intention to contribute with some guidelines on installation, maintenance, evaluation, personal protection equipment (PPE) and personnel training to deal with these carbon-based nanomaterials in research, manufacture, and use with composite materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube Composites)

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