A studying on load transfer in carbon nanotube/epoxy composites under tension

Abstract The shear-lag model is developed to study the effect of geometry and material properties of epoxy and carbon nanotubes on load transfer in carbon nanotube/epoxy composites under tension. The results from proposed shear-lag model are validated by finite element method and the Haque’s model. Results show that the aspect ratio of the half-length to the outer radius of carbon nanotubes and their layer number have significant influence on load transfer in the composites. On the other hand, this research reveals new findings, which are not reported in other previous works. That is, no noticeable influences of the epoxy Young’s modulus and the interface shear modulus between epoxy matrix and carbon nanotube layers are found on load transfer in terms of the saturated stress length. In addition, the carbon nanotube volume percentage is found not affecting the load transfer. This research presents a better understanding on mechanical properties of carbon nanotube/epoxy composites.