Development of fiber reinforced nanocomposites for high performance applications

摘要

The ability on modifying and modelling materials at nanoscale level is leading modern society to developments which were unthinkable just a decade ago. For this reason, researchers all over the world have been focused their studies on nanotechnology and nanomaterials: dispersion of even a low concentration of nanoparticles in a material can lead to a drastic enhancement of their performance. Loading of polymers with high-aspect-ratio fillers can lead to very interesting results regard to the properties of the final material, even with a very low concentration of these particles. Their particular shape and their very high aspect ratio provide a huge specific surface area, which is several orders of magnitude greater than the one of conventional fillers. Among this kind of fillers, carbon nanotubes and nanofibers have a particular importance, because of their capability of significantly modifying even the electrical conductivity of the matrix in which they are included. As the capacity of nanoparticles of producing materials with excellent properties is strongly related to the dispersion level attainable, one of the most important challenges is to find a processing method which can ensure an optimal dispersion of the nanoparticles, and, at the same time, can be scaled up at the industrial level.