Mechanical Performance of Matrix Filled Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Nanocomposites

Carbon nanotubes have been used as an additional reinforcement to enhance mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of the structural composites. Thus, it is very important to investigate the mechanical behaviour of such nanocomposites when they undergo external load. In this paper, first, analytical exact solution for effective longitudinal Young’s modulus of a generally orthotropic 3-phase nanocomposite cylinder, representing the 3-dimentional model of a filled single-walled carbon nanotube embedded in another host material is formulated and then used to obtain the analytical exact solutions for displacements, strains, and stress distributions throughout the entire tubular structure corresponding to an axially applied load. The materials of all three cylinders constructing the 3-phase nanocomposite cylinder are considered to be cylindrically generally orthotropic. Next, analytical solutions are examined for a particular cylindrical geometry and material properties. Results are obtained through the thickness of the tubes, i.e., through the radius, and then discussed. To verify the analytical exact solutions, a 3-dimentional finite element analysis of an identical 3-phase nanocomposite structure is performed and some of the results are compared to those obtained analytically. Excellent agreement is achieved validating our analytical solutions.