Extraordinary synergy in the mechanical properties of polymer matrix composites reinforced with 2 nanocarbons

Prasad, K Eswar and Das, Barun and Maitra, Urmimala and Ramamurty, Upadrasta and Rao, CNR (2009) Extraordinary synergy in the mechanical properties of polymer matrix composites reinforced with 2 nanocarbons. In: PNAS, 106 (32). pp. 13186-13189.

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Abstract

One of the applications of nanomaterials is as reinforcements in composites, wherein small additions of nanomaterials lead to large enhancements in mechanical properties. There have been extensive studies in the literature on composites where a polymer matrix is reinforced by a single nanomaterial such as carbon nanotubes. In this article, we examine the significant synergistic effects observed when 2 different types of nanocarbons are incorporated in a polymer matrix. Thus, binary combinations of nanodiamond, few-layer graphene, and single-walled nanotubes have been used to reinforce polyvinyl alcohol. The mechanical properties of the resulting composites, evaluated by the nanoindentation technique, show extraordinary synergy, improving the stiffness and hardness by as much as 400% compared to those obtained with single nanocarbon reinforcements. These results suggest a way of designing advanced materials with extraordinary mechanical properties by incorporating small amounts of 2 nanomaterials such as graphene plus nanodiamond or nanodiamond plus carbon nanotube.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PNAS
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to National Academy of Sciences.
Keywords:	binary combinations;nanoindentation technique;polyvinyl alcohol;synergistic effects.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2009 12:06
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:42
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/22622

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