Prediction of Thermo-Mechanical Properties of MWCNT-Reinforced GFRP and Its Thermo-Elastic Response Analysis in Laminated Composite Plate

Abstract

This paper presents the prediction of thermal and mechanical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite material and its thermo-elastic response analysis in integrated composite plate. A micromechanics modeling approach based on the Eshelby–Mori–Tanaka method and rule of mixture is used to consider the effect of MWCNT agglomeration in the matrix and Chamis model to consider the influence glass fiber reinforcement in the three-phase composite. Thermo-elastic behavior of laminated composite plate enhanced with CNT was simulated by adopting high-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) with displacement field having seven degrees of freedom using finite element formulation with nine-noded Lagrangian plate element by developing FEM codes using MATLAB®. The current results of FEM model are compared with the results available in the literature to verify the effectiveness of developed model. Various parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effect of MWCNT agglomeration, width-to-thickness ratio, side-to-breadth ratio, and weight fraction of MWCNT on the thermo-elastic responses of laminated hybrid composite plate. It has been observed that agglomeration and weight fraction of MWCNT have a significant influence on the thermo-elastic response of laminated composite plates.