Thesis
Mechanical characterization of carbon nano-fiber reinforced high density polyethylene
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103651
Abstract
The superior mechanical properties and relatively low price have made carbon nanofibers (CNFs) an excellent candidate for the reinforcement material in polymeric nanocomposites. As in all the composite materials, the strength of the interface between the matrix and reinforcement material plays an important role on the overall performance of the composites. The objective of this study is to characterize the compressive mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites with high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix and carbon nanofiber as the reinforcement material. Three different types of nanofibers were used, one was pristine CNFs and the other two were silanized CNFs with different interfacial treatments. For each type, three different concentrations were used, namely, 0.5 wt%, 1 wt% and 3 wt%. The compressive mechanical behaviors under quasi-static and dynamic loadings at strain rates of 0.01/sec and 5000/sec respectively were characterized. The former was done on a screw-driven Instron test machine and the latter was tested on a modified Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system which was originally designed for testing hard materials. The modified system was demonstrated to be capable of testing soft materials such as polymers. The experimental results indicated that the addition of CNFs in polymers did not seem to show appreciable improvement of the compressive properties of the composites. This could be due to the low concentration of the reinforcement material used and/or the inability of the fibers to support compression load.
Metrics
2 File views/ downloads
14 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Mechanical characterization of carbon nano-fiber reinforced high density polyethylene
- Creators
- Yueqi Hu
- Contributors
- Jow-Lian Ding (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525132101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis