Application of Molecular Dynamics and Micromechanics to Predict the Mechanical Properties of Boron Nitride-Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

A multiple length scale approach was developed to investigate the feasibility of improving epoxy composites using boron nitride nanoplatelets. Molecular dynamic was utilized at the lower length scale to construct and characterize the mechanical properties of the microstructures, while micromechanical theory was applied to the modeling and simulation of the material systems at higher length scale to quantify their elastic properties at various loading conditions and relative fractions of micro constituents. In this research study, the techniques for evaluating the mechanical loadings were also defined. The predicted results of the analysis showed that increasing the h-BN concentration increased the tensile and shear moduli of the nanocomposites due to higher rigidity of the boron nitride nanoplatelets embedded in epoxy.