Scalable High Tensile Modulus Composite Laminates Using Continuous Carbon Nanotube Yarns for Aerospace Applications
Cecil Evers, Britannia Vondrasek, Claire Jolowsky, Jin Gyu Park, Michael W. Czabaj, Bailee Ku, Kaylee Thagard, Gregory M. Odegard, Zhiyong Liang
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide An approach is established for fabricating high-strength and high-stiffness composite laminates with continuous carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns for scaled-up mechanical tests and potential aerospace structure applications. Continuous CNT yarns with up to 80% degree of nanotube alignment and a unique self-assembled graphitic CNT packing result in their specific tensile strengths of 1.77 ± 0.07 N/tex and an apparent specific modulus of 92.6 ± 3.2 N/tex. Unidirectional CNT yarn reinforced composite laminates with a CNT concentration of greater than 80 wt % and minimal microscale voids are fabricated using filament winding and aerospace-grade resin matrices. A specific tensile strength of up to 1.71 GPa/(g cm –3 ) and specific modulus of 256 GPa/(g cm –3 ) are realized; the specific modulus exceeds current state-of-the-art unidirectional carbon fiber composite laminates. The specific modulus of the laminates is 2.76 times greater than the specific modulus of the constituent CNT yarns, a phenomenon not observed in carbon fiber reinforced composites. The results demonstrate an effective approach for fabricating high-strength CNT yarns into composites for applications that require specific tensile modulus properties that are significantly beyond state-of-the-art carbon fiber composites and potentially open an unexplored performance region in the Ashby chart for composite material applications.