Improving Damping Properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Fabricated with Modified Matrix by Adding Cellulose Nanofibers

Abstract

Although though carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have superior specific strength and stiffness,inadequatedamping propertieslimit theirusage.Theobjectiveofthisstudy is to investigatetheinfluenceoftheaspect ratio oftheadded cellulosenanofibers(CNFs)on the damping properties ofplane-woven CFRP cloth.To investigatetheeffect ofthefiberaspect ratio on thedamping propertiesoftheCFRPplates,fourtypesofCNFswithvarying aspectratioswere prepared.Theresults showed that the loss tangent(tanδ)oftheCFRP plates slightlyimproved when CNFs, having a nominal aspect ratio of 1360,were added to the matrix. In contrast, free damping vibrationtestwithcantileverbeamrevealedthathighlossfactorwasremarkedcomparing tothatoforiginalspecimenwhentheaspectratioofCNFswas1360.Therefore,whentheirnominal aspect ratiowasmoderate,thefiberbridgesoftheaddedCNFsprevented severestrainconcentration in thematrix around the reinforcing carbon fibers.High vibration damping was obtained by preventing strain localization in the matrix, while agglomerations of added CNFs should be prevented.