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Prediction of the elastic properties of multiwalled carbon nanotube reinforced rubber composites

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Abstract

Carbon nanotube reinforced natural rubber composites (CNT/NRs) have been increasingly used in industry. However, due to the large aspect ratio and high curling of CNTs, the traditional theoretical models that have been used for inclusion-reinforced composites cannot be applied to CNT/NRs directly. Therefore, a longer time is needed to predict the elastic properties of CNT/NRs in experiments. In this work, the classical macroscopic model and mesoscopic method were used to predict the elastic performance of CNT/NRs prepared by the latex blending method. Three types of phenomenological models were employed: Mooney–Rivlin, Ogden, and Yeoh. A comparison with the experimental results shows that the Ogden model describes the constitutive behavior of CNT/NRs more accurately. In addition, at the mesoscale, the Halpin–Tsai equation, Mori–Tanaka model, and finite element method were employed to predict the elastic modulus based on the persistent length theory. The stress-strain curves under large deformations were compared with those of the experimental results. Therefore, the applicability of the three mesoscale models were verified for the CNT/NRs studied in this work.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 11972005), Natural Science Foundation Projects of the Fujian Province of China (Grant Number 2021J01963, Grant Number 2020J01770, Grant Number 2020J01874), Quanzhou Science and Technology Plan Project (Grant Number 2020C055, Grant Number 2021C009R), and Science and Technology Project of FuJian University of Technology (GY-Z20012).

Funding

The Open Fund of Fujian Key Laboratory of Force Measurement (Fujian Metrology Institute).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemical Engineering and Materials, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Jianhong Gao, Mengyu Qian, Rui Wang & Dongxian Zhuo

  2. College of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Jianhong Gao & Xiaoxiang Yang

  3. Xinhe New Materials Co., LTD, Fujian, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Jianhong Gao & Shirong Wang

  4. Fujian Metrology Institute, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Jianhong Gao

  5. School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, FuJian University of Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002, China

    Lihong Huang

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  1. Jianhong Gao
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  2. Mengyu Qian
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  4. Shirong Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaoxiang Yang or Dongxian Zhuo.

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Gao, J., Qian, M., Wang, R. et al. Prediction of the elastic properties of multiwalled carbon nanotube reinforced rubber composites. J Polym Res 31, 32 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-023-03822-3

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