Nondestructive damage sensitivity and reinforcing effect of carbon nanotube/epoxy composites using electro-micromechanical technique

Electro-micromechanical technique was applied for carbon nanotube (CNT)/epoxy composites using four-point probe method with their contents. The fracture of carbon fiber was detected by nondestructive acoustic emission (AE) relating to electrical resistivity under double-matrix composites (DMC) test. The damage sensitivity of fiber fracture, matrix deformation and fiber tension for CNT/epoxy composites increased with increasing CNT volume fraction. Reinforcing effect of 2.0 vol.% CNT obtained from mechanical properties and apparent modulus measurements was highest. For the concept of nondestructive evaluation, damage sensitivity and reinforcing effect of carbon nanocomposites could be obtained from the electrical volume and contact resistivity measurement with AE.