Influence of different carbon nanotubes types in dynamic-mechanical properties of lightweight carbon felt/CNTs composites

The improvement of the quality of the interface between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and polymers is an important issue that has a lot of challengers to be solved. The use of CNTs in the preparation of a hybrid composite of carbon felt/CNTs/Polymer provides a means of controlling all the special and important properties of these nanomaterials. This happens because the dispersion of CNTs in polymers (as thermoplastics, silicone, and epoxy-resins) is not an easy task mainly due to the van der Walls interactions between CNTs themselves and their weak interaction with polymers in the pristine form. The use of carbon felt/CNTs as a hybrid composite matrix for the improvement and development of polymer composites and its mechanical properties have never been studied before in this hybrid configuration, where the composite is prepared by the Chemical Vapor Deposition method (CVD) and the CNTs cover all the surface of the fiber. The effect of the CNTs type (e. g., SWCNT, MWCNT, Cup-Stacked CNTs, Helical CNTs, DWCNT and others) in the properties of the polymer nanocomposite is not studied yet. In this research report, we present the study of the carbon felt/CNTs/Polymer Hybrid Composite on dynamic conditions and their mechanical behavior using two different types and less studied CNTs: CSCNTs and helical CNTs.