Processing of Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Nanofibers towards High Performance Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are promising composite materials for high-performance and lightweight applications, gaining increasing interest in aerospace and automotive industries. Epoxy thermosets are frequently used as polymer matrices of CFRPs, which are usually responsible for failure of the composite. In this work different types of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNF) are added to the epoxy resin to improve mechanical properties of the whole CFRP composite. The dispersion of the fillers on a three-roll mill (TRM) is shown comparing their dispersion behavior in the resin. Results of increased modulus and strength of the hierarchical composite in four-point bending tests are presented.