Carbon nanomaterials grown on E-glass fibers and their application in composite

Abstract The goal of this research is the development of carbon nanomaterial coated glass fiber/epoxy composite with enhanced properties. To fulfill this objective, the following steps have to be followed: (i) To figure out a method for achieving uniform Ni catalyst coating on the glass fiber. (ii) To obtain a uniform carbon nanomaterial coating on glass fiber. Vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were obtained at 500 °C, where as multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were obtained over the glass fiber at 600 and 700 °C. Structure, morphology and properties of these carbon nanomaterials are discussed through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), I–V analysis, etc. (iii) In the last step, carbon nanomaterials coated glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites were prepared by hand lay-up method. The results showed that the Young’s modulus of composites was greatly improved by the addition of carbon nanomaterials coated glass fiber. The dynamic mechanical analysis observations indicated that the incorporation of carbon nanomaterials coated glass fiber restricted the movement of molecular chain of the epoxy resin and also set up bridging between the glass fiber and polymer matrix. This contributed to the improvement of the storage modulus and glass transition temperature of the composites.