Electrospun nanofibers as reinforcement for composite laminates materials – A review

In the last few decades nanofibers have been developed and introduced in a vast number of industrial and research applications. One of their most effective use is as interleaved reinforcement for composite laminate materials against delamination. Nanofibrous mats have the ideal morphology to be embedded between two plies of a laminate, and a vast and deep research has been carried out investigating their effect on the global behaviour of a composite laminate. This review is the first of its kind to date which presents a detailed state-of-the-art on the effect of nanofibrous interleaves into composite laminates with focus on the mechanical performances and behaviours of nanomodified materials. A detailed description of the working mechanisms of the nanointerleave under different load cases is presented, and a comparative analysis between papers in literature will provide readers with a powerful tool to understand and use nanofibers for reinforcing purposes.