Abstract :
Carbon nanotube reinforced polymer composites
have been extensively researched [Shadler LS,
Giannaris SC, Ajayan PM (1998) Appl Phys Lett
73:3842; Ajayan PM, Shadler LS, Giannaris C, Rubio A
(2000) Adv Mater 12:750; Wagner HD, Lourie O,
Feldman Y, Tenne R (1998) Appl Phys Lett 72:188;
Thostenson ET, Chou T-W (2002) J Phys D: Appl Phys
35:L77] for their strength and stiffness properties. The
interfaces between nanotubes and polymer matrix can
play a critical role in nanocomposites for their
mechanical properties, since the interfacial area is order
of magnitude more than traditional composites. Unless
the interface is carefully engineered, poor load transfer
between individual nanotubes (in bundles) and
between nanotubes and surrounding polymer chains
may result in interfacial slippage [Shadler et al. (1998);
Ajayan et al. (2000)] and consequently disappointing
mechanical stiffness and strength. Interfacial slippage,
while detrimental to high stiffness and strength, could
result in very high mechanical damping, which is a
hugely important attribute in many commercial applications.
In this paper, we show that the mechanical
damping is related to frictional energy dissipation during
interfacial sliding at the extremely many nanotubepolymer
interfaces, and characterize the impact of
activation of the frictional sliding on damping behavior
