The effect of temperature on fatigue strength of poly(ether-imide)/multiwalled carbon nanotube/carbon fibers composites for aeronautical application

Abstract

This work concerns the fatigue behavior at three different temperature conditions (−40, 20, and 80°C) and the addition of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) into a carbon-fiber reinforced poly(ether-imide) composite. The incorporation of MWCNT into the composite increased the tensile strength and Young's modulus by up 5 and 2%, respectively. At low temperature, the incorporation of the nanoparticles improved the fatigue strength of the laminates by 15%. The shear strength results obtained by interlaminar shear strength and compression shear test tests have shown an increase of about 16 and 58%, respectively, by the introduction of nanotubes into the laminates. Fractographic observations revealed that the surface of carbon nanotube laminate (PEI/MWCNT/CF) presented a ductile behavior, and differences in the fracture aspects of the material compared to the traditional PEI/CF laminate have been observed.