Carbon Based Hybrid Nanostructures for High Performance Composites: The Surfactant Investigation

Abstract

The addition of nanofillers has been shown an alternative to improve the fiber/matrix interaction and the epoxy matrix mechanical properties. Many studies have reported the addition of carbon based nanostructures, i.e. carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene, as nanofillers in different composite materials, with an increase on its mechanical properties. Nevertheless, the individual nanostructures have the tendency to agglomerate when the energy provided by the dispersion process, such as sonication, high shear mixing, etc., is removed. The use of surfactants seems to be a promising route to overcome this problem. This research goal is to investigate the surfactant effects on carbon/epoxy composites nano-modified by graphene and carbon nanotubes. Multi-layered graphene and multiwall carbon nanotubes were dispersed with two different surfactants, one ionic and another non-ionic, i.e. Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) and Polyoxyethylenenonylphenyl ether (IGEPAL® CO-890). The nanoscale analysis was based on morphological/nature observations via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), while the macro analysis follows the mechanical characterization by tensile tests (ASTM D 3039) and three point bending test (ASTM D 790).