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Ceramics have a number of applications as coating material due to their high hardness, wear and corrosion resistance, and the ability to withstand high temperatures. Critical to the success of these materials is the effective heat transfer through a material to allow for heat diffusion or effective cooling, which is often limited by the low thermal conductivity of many ceramic materials. To meet the challenge of improving the thermal conductivity of ceramics without lowering their performance envelope, carbon nanotubes were selected to improve the mechanical properties and thermal dispersion ability due to its excellent mechanical properties and high thermal conductivity in axial direction. However, the enhancements are far lower than expectation resulting from limited carbon nanotube content in ceramic matrix composites and the lack of alignment. These problems can be overcome if ceramic coatings are reinforced by carbon nanotubes with good dispersion and alignment. In this study, the well-dispersed and aligned carbon nanotubes preforms were achieved in the form of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) and Buckypaper. Polymer derived ceramic (PDC) was selected as the matrix to fabricate carbon nanotube reinforced ceramic nanocomposites through resin curing and pyrolysis. The SEM images indicates the alignment of carbon nanotubes in the PDC nanocomposites. The mechanical and thermal properties of the PDC nanocomposites were characterized through Vickers hardness measurement and Thermogravimetric Analysis. The ideal anisotropic properties of nanocomposites were confirmed by estimating the electrical conductivity in two orthogonal directions.

Folien aus mehrwandigen Kohlenstoffnanoröhren, auch Buckypaper genannt, stellen eine vielversprechende Alternative zu herkömmlichen Schirmmaterialien für elektromagnetische Strahlung dar. Zum Aufbau eines grundlegenden Verständnisses und zur Verbesserung der Verarbeitbarkeit gegenüber kommerziell erhältlichem Buckypaper, wurden nach Auswahl eines geeigneten Herstellungsverfahrens Buckypaper aus unterschiedlichen Nanomaterialien hergestellt. Zur Untersuchung der Auswirkung ausgewählter Herstellungsparameter erfolgte dabei eine Parametervariation mittels statistischer Versuchsplanung. Zusätzlich wurden im Vorfeld weitere Einflussfaktoren betrachtet. Dadurch konnten unterschiedliche Einwaagemengen und Rohmaterialien, verschiedene Lösungsmittel und Konzentrationen der Nanomaterialien sowie diverse Prozessparameter des angewandten Nassprozesses untersucht werden. Im Rahmen der Charakterisierung der hergestellten Proben, mittels unter anderem Vierleiter- und Schirmdämpfungsmessung sowie Rasterelektronenmikroskopie, wurden die signifikanten Einflüsse der untersuchten Parameter identifiziert und beschrieben. Es konnten dadurch sehr homogene Buckypaper mit hoher Leitfähigkeit und guter Schirmungseffektivität hergestellt werden, die eine verbesserte Grundlage für die weitere Entwicklung mikrostrukturierter Schutzfolien bilden. Aus dem Ergebnis der Arbeit lassen sich optimale Herstellungsparameter von Buckypaper für den Einsatz als Schirmmaterial im Bereich der elektromagnetischen Verträglichkeit ermitteln. / Freestanding multiwalled carbon nanotube sheets, also known as buckypaper, represent a promising alternative for various applications, especially for electromagnetic interference shielding. In order to develop a fundamental understanding and improve the processability compared to commercially available buckypaper, sheets from different nanotube materials were produced after a suitable manufacturing process had been selected. Design of experiments was used to investigate the effects of various manufacturing parameters. Other influencing factors were considered in advance. Several raw materials of different weights, varying solvents and concentrations of the nanomaterials as well as various processing parameters of the applied wet process were thereby examined. Significant influences on the properties of produced buckypaper were identified during characterization by, among other means, four-point probe, shielding attenuation measurements and scanning electron microscopy. From the result, optimal manufacturing parameters can be determined. Thus, very homogeneous buckypaper with high electrical conductivity as well as good mechanical strength and shielding effectiveness could be produced. This provides a solid foundation for further development of frequency selective electromagnetic interference shields.

abstract: Multiaxial mechanical fatigue of heterogeneous materials has been a significant cause of concern in the aerospace, civil and automobile industries for decades, limiting the service life of structural components while increasing time and costs associated with inspection and maintenance. Fiber reinforced composites and light-weight aluminum alloys are widely used in aerospace structures that require high specific strength and fatigue resistance. However, studying the fundamental crack growth behavior at the micro- and macroscale as a function of loading history is essential to accurately predict the residual fatigue life of components and achieve damage tolerant designs. The issue of mechanical fatigue can be tackled by developing reliable in-situ damage quantification methodologies and by comprehensively understanding fatigue damage mechanisms under a variety of complex loading conditions. Although a multitude of uniaxial fatigue loading studies have been conducted on light-weight metallic materials and composites, many service failures occur from components being subjected to variable amplitude, mixed-mode multiaxial fatigue loadings. In this research, a systematic approach is undertaken to address the issue of fatigue damage evolution in aerospace materials by: (i) Comprehensive investigation of micro- and macroscale crack growth behavior in aerospace grade Al 7075 T651 alloy under complex biaxial fatigue loading conditions. The effects of variable amplitude biaxial loading on crack growth characteristics such as crack acceleration and retardation were studied in detail by exclusively analyzing the influence of individual mode-I, mixed-mode and mode-II overload and underload fatigue cycles in an otherwise constant amplitude mode-I baseline load spectrum. The micromechanisms governing crack growth behavior under the complex biaxial loading conditions were identified and correlated with the crack growth behavior and fracture surface morphology through quantitative fractography. (ii) Development of novel multifunctional nanocomposite materials with improved fatigue resistance and in-situ fatigue damage detection and quantification capabilities. A state-of-the-art processing method was developed for producing sizable carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes for multifunctional composites. The CNT membranes were embedded in glass fiber laminates and in-situ strain sensing and damage quantification was achieved by exploiting the piezoresistive property of the CNT membrane. In addition, improved resistance to fatigue crack growth was observed due to the embedded CNT membrane. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2018

The interlaminar region is a contributing factor to the limited electrical conductivity of carbon fiber/epoxy composites. Consisting of electrically insulating epoxy matrix between conductive layers of carbon fiber, the interlaminar region prevents electrical interaction between the carbon fiber layers and electrical conduction in the through thickness direction.The interlaminar region in thin [0,0] carbon fiber/epoxy composites has been reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNT) by two methods. First by aligned CNT forests from N12 Technologies and secondly by self-produced Buckypapers, porous CNT films, of different areal densitites. Two batches of laminates modified by aligned CNTs, having different curing conditions, and laminates modified with Buckypapers were manufactured. The laminates were evaluated by their electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency (EMI SE). The addition of external pressure to the laminates during curing brought an increase in longitudinal conductivity, a consequence of higher fiber packing. Also, both reinforcement methods increased the longitudinal conductivity through improved electrical interaction between the carbon fiber layers. However, only the Buckypaper reinforcement augmented the transversal conductivity significantly, acting as a highly conductive route in the interlaminar region. Both batches of aligned CNT modified laminates exhibited equal EMI SE, questioning the influence of the conductivity of the laminate on its EMI SE. Also, the increase in EMI SE brought by the aligned CNT forests were negligible compared to the reference. However, the reinforcement by Buckypapers proved successful, reaching -45/-50 dB at 1000 MHz, improving from 30 dB of the unmodified reference at the same frequency.