Nanomodified Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites and Adhesives: What Needs To Be Done?

The discovery of C60 bucky balls by Richard E Smalley and team that won them the Nobel Prize 1996, and the pioneering work by Thomas Ebbesen and Pulickel M Ajayan from the lijima Lab, on bulk production of CNTs, paved the way to worldwide research, in nanotechnology. Studies of researchers like, Koral Schulte, F.H. Gojny and several others, resulted in nanotube modified epoxy composites with improved fracture toughness and stiffness properties. Ray Boughman and group’s work may be considered as the first in the direction of CNT modified fibrous composites, when they produced the toughest ever SWNTs from a PVA dope. Alan Windles and team carried out rapid production of continuous CNT fibres. All these efforts while laying the foundation for use of CNTs in composites of particulate type, strongly reveal a big gap to be filled by nanoscientists and engineers alike, in extending the use of CNTs in structural grade composites. In this paper, therefore, an attempt has been made, to highlight the above efforts and explicitly bring out, the need to focus on scientific and technological aspects pertinent to the Nanotube-modified FRP Composites and adhesives, recognizing that the best of CNTs for the structural–composites is yet to come.