Mechanical Properties of Polymer Matrix Nanocomposites Reinforced with Varying Carbon Nanotube Geometries

This study serves as part of an introduction to nanocomposite research at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and attempts to form an observational comparison between the performance of various CNT-Epoxy nanocomposites under drop weight testing. As a continuation of research on CNT-Epoxy nanocomposites, this study specifies three geometries of Multi-walled carbon nanotubes: straight (MWSCNTs), helical (MWHCNTs), and OH-functionalized straight (FMWSCNTs); and it compares their impact resistances to neat epoxy samples. Based on the total number of failed samples under a normalized impact energy of 0.335J/mm, it is observed that FMWSCNTs increase the impact resistance of Epoxy panels at the greatest rate. Additionally, according to the number of observed cracks in the failed samples, MWSCNTs and MWSCNTs demonstrated a similar smaller improvement in impact resistance when compared to the Neat samples.