Enhancing the Strength of CFRP Composites using Cellulose Nanocrystals-bonded Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

We introduce a novel processing method, in which we utilize assisting nanomaterials, i.e. cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), to incorporate pristine carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in CFRP composites. We show that hybrid CFRPs made with CFs coated with CNC-bonded CNTs exhibit higher flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) compared to those coated with functionalized CNTs. Coating the CF layers with 0.2 wt% functionalized CNTs (fCNTs) increases the flexural strength by 8%. However, when the CF layers are coated with 0.2CNC-0.2pCNT (pristine CNT), the flexural strength enhances by 31% compared to that of the uncoated composites. The ILSS follows a similar trend to that of flexural strength, where fCNT increases 12% the ILSS, however, 0.2CNC-0.2pCNT enhances the ILSS by 42% compared to that of neat CFRP composites. Therefore, CNC-pCNT coated CFRP exhibits 23% higher flexural strength and 30% higher ILSS compared to those coated with only fCNT.