Vibration Damping Enhancement of Polymer Composites via Carbon Nanopaper Sheets with Different Fiber Reinforcements

Polymer matrix composites reinforced by carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are rapidly gaining popularity in vibration damping applications. The large specific area (1000 m²/g) and aspect ratio (> 1000) of CNFs, which promote significant interfacial friction between carbon nanofibers and the polymer matrix, causes much higher energy dissipation in the polymer matrix. Nanocomposite combined with carbon nanofibers in the form of paper sheet have proved significant improvement in vibration damping compared to pure matrix materials. In this study, a unique concept of manufacturing nanocomposites with carbon nanofiber based nanopaper sheets for vibration damping applications has been explored. The new approach includes making carbon nanopaper sheet by the filtration of well-dispersed carbon nanofibers under controlled processing conditions. Subsequently, carbon nanopaper sheets are integrated into composite laminates as surface layer using RTM process. For the comparative study, the vibration amplitude and damping ratio of the samples with and without carbon nanopaper sheet are tested. Furthermore, different fiber reinforcement has been used in composite, including carbon fiber, glass fiber, and the basalt fiber. Especially, the basalt fiber is a new kind of fiber which has a great potential application in composite industry. The experimental results clearly show a significant improvement of vibration damping properties of all nanocomposites plates. This research demonstrates vibration damping enhancement via carbon nanopaper sheets and investigates the effect of fiber reinforcement to the damping property of nanocomposites.