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In-plane mechanical properties of carbon nanotube films fabricated by floating catalyst chemical vapor decomposition

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Abstract

Large-scale carbon nanotube (CNT) films fabricated by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FCCVD) are promising reinforcement materials for high performance composites. However, little research has been reported on the four independent in-plane engineering constants of FCCVD CNT films, which are essential for understanding and prediction of mechanical behavior of FCCVD CNT film-based structures. The tensile strength in CNT-oriented direction is 127 MPa and the tensile modulus in oriented and transverse directions are 3.0 and 0.3 GPa, respectively. These mechanical properties are mainly attributed to the as-grown CNT-to-CNT contacts in the films. The Poisson’s ratio in the oriented direction at 5 % strain is 0.75. A negative Poisson’s ratio of −0.99 is observed at 0.1 % strain in CNT-oriented direction. The in-plane shear modulus is 0.57 GPa, which is derived from the coordinate transformation between the on-axis and 45° off-axis compliance matrices. The in-situ scanning electron microscopy is adopted to observe the microstructure at different tensile strains. During the tensile testing, the reorientation of CNT bundles in CNT film is evaluated by numerical image processing and Raman spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51303025), Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 12ZR1440500), Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (Grant No. 14YF1409600), and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20120075120016). This work was also funded by Donghua University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Thanks to Prof. Qingwen Li in Suzhou, Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for providing the FCCVD CNT material.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of High Performance Fibers & Products, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Fujun Xu, Baochun Wei, Hongfei Zhu & Yiping Qiu

  2. College of Fashion Technology, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Liu

  3. Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, No. 398 Ruoshui Road, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Yongyi Zhang

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  1. Fujun Xu
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  2. Baochun Wei
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  3. Wei Liu
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  4. Hongfei Zhu
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  6. Yiping Qiu
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Correspondence to Yiping Qiu.

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Xu, F., Wei, B., Liu, W. et al. In-plane mechanical properties of carbon nanotube films fabricated by floating catalyst chemical vapor decomposition. J Mater Sci 50, 8166–8174 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9395-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9395-0

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