Damping and mechanical properties of carbon nanotube solvent-free nanofluids-filled epoxy nanocomposites

Carbon nanotube-filled epoxy nanocomposite is a promising material that can be used as the structural damping materials. To improve the dispersity of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and adjust the interface strength, two kinds of MWNT-based nanofluids were synthesized by surface chemical modification. Then, the nanofluids prepared were added into epoxy matrix to obtain nanocomposites, respectively. The mechanical and damping properties of nanocomposites were investigated. It is found that both the interface strength and dispersion cause significant influence on the mechanical and damping properties. Importantly, the introduction of nanofluids with excellent dispersity and weak interface strength can simultaneously enhance the damping properties and mechanical properties of epoxy. When 0.5 wt% MWNT was added to the epoxy resin matrix, the bending strength, bending modulus and impact strength of nanofluids-filled epoxy nanocomposites increased by more than 10%, 14%, and 40%, respectively. The loss factor of nanofluids-filled epoxy nanocomposites is higher than pure epoxy at the glassy state, and it increased with the increasing of the nanofluids content.