Fabrication of carbon nanotubes grown woven carbon fiber/epoxy composites and their electrical and mechanical properties

Multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were directly grown on woven carbon fibers using chemical vapor deposition technique and iron acetate as a catalyst. These CNTs grown woven carbon fibers were further infused with epoxy resin to fabricate fiber reinforced nanocomposites. Both electric and mechanical properties of these composites were studied and found that the electric resistivity of composite reduced significantly as the amount of CNTs on woven carbon fiber increased. For the neat composite without CNTs, the resistivity observed was 25 Ω·m, while it was only 0.2 Ω·m for the composite with 3.3 wt. % of CNTs grown on woven carbon fiber. The flexure test results showed a 34% increase in strength and 126% increase in stiffness for 1.65 wt. % CNTs grown on woven carbon fiber.