Multiscale modeling to characterize electromechanical behaviors of CNT/polymer nanocomposites considering the matrix damage and interfacial debonding

Abstract

A hierarchical multiscale modeling for analyzing the electromechanical behaviors of carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites is presented, considering the matrix damage as well as interfacial debonding between CNTs and the polymer matrix. Fundamental parameters from molecular dynamics simulations, such as the mechanical properties of polymers and the interfacial characteristics between CNTs and polymer, are upscaled to the continuum scale. The results of finite element analysis show that the stress and resistivity distributions significantly depend on the type of polymer. Additionally, we establish a new approach to characterize the matrix damage behavior of each polymer based on the scale bridging method.

Keywords:

• CNT/polymer nanocomposites
• electromechanical behavior
• interfacial debonding
• matrix damage
• multiphysics
• multiscale modeling
• piezoresistive effect

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant (No. 2012R1A3A2048841) and funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of the Korean government.