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Resin film infusion: Toward structural composites with nanofillers
Author(s) -
Anand Anoop,
Harshe Rahul,
Joshi Makarand
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.38855
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , epoxy , composite number , carbon nanotube , rheology , nanoparticle , dispersion (optics) , molding (decorative) , dissolution , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , optics , physics , engineering
Resin Film Infusion (RFI) has been used to fabricate composites with continuous unidirectional E‐glass and epoxy with low weight fractions of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in matrix. An ultrasound‐assisted dissolution‐evaporation method with thermoplastics or block copolymers as dispersing agents for nanoparticles enabled uniform dispersion of CNTs in the resin. Rheological characterization of CNT‐filled epoxy revealed that viscosity, and hence processing of the resin remains unaffected as compared to pristine resin at elevated temperatures of subsequent composite manufacturing. Local flow of the modified resin through the sandwiched fabric plies in RFI process as against the global flow in traditional liquid composite molding processes, made sure that uniform distribution of nanoparticles is accomplished throughout the composite. Compressive properties of hybrid composites improved considerably with CNTs at loading fractions as low as 0.2 wt %. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013