Fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRCs) have shown great promise as high strength structural materials due to their high stiffness to weight ratio and their ease in processing. They have found extensive use in aerospace, automotive, construction, and recreational equipment material applications. Research in polymer-based nanocomposites (PNCs) has shown explosive growth in the past decade wit...

There is a long-standing challenge to realize in situ visualization of incorporated inorganic materials in organic–inorganic composites in a post-labeling manner, owing to the lack of specific fluorescent organic dye molecules for targeting inorganic materials. Herein, we observe that the specific covalent B–O binding between the hydroxyl groups of inorganic materials and commercially available...

Polymer-based composites were heralded in the 1960s as a new paradigm for materials. By dispersing strong, highly stiff fibres in a polymer matrix, high-performance lightweight composites could be developed and tailored to individual applications. Today we stand at a similar threshold in the realm of polymer nanocomposites with the promise of strong, durable, multifunctional materials with low ...

In this investigation, studies are carried out on the mechanical properties of hybrid polymer composites. Hybrid composites can reach a better combination of both artificial and natural fibre properties. Different weight percentages of jute fibres were hybridised with coconut sheath to produce the composites through compression moulding. Composites were produced using untreated and treated fibr...

The dielectric response of a polymer matrix composite can be substantially modified and tuned within a broad frequency band by integrating within the material an artificial plasmon medium composed of periodically distributed, very thin, electrically conducting wires. In the microwave regime, such plasmon/polymer composites have been studied analytically, computationally, and experimentally. Thi...

UV-curable polymer composites are of importance in industry, biomedical applications, scientific fields, and daily life. Outstanding physical properties of polymer composites were achieved with nanoparticles as filler, primarily in enhancing mechanical strength or barrier properties. Structure-property relationships of the resulting nanocomposites are dictated by the polymer-filler molecular ar...

In this work, we report the potential use of novel carbon nanofibers (CNFs), dispersed during fabrication of glass fiber composites to monitor damage propagation under static loading. The use of CNFs enables a transformation of the typically non-conductive glass fiber composites into new fiber composites with appreciable electrical conductivity. The percolation limit of CNFs/epoxy nanocomposite...

Two of the drawbacks of using natural-based composites in industrial applications are thermal instability and water uptake capacity. In this work, mechanical wood pulp was used to reinforce polypropylene at a level of 20 to 50 wt. %. Composites were mixed by means of a Brabender internal mixer for both non-coupled and coupled formulations. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravi...

BACKGROUND Polylactic acid (PLA) is considered to be a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based polymers for many applications. Using cellulose fiber to reinforce PLA is of great interest recently due to its complete biodegradability and potential improvement of the mechanical performance. However, the dispersion of hydrophilic cellulose fibers in the hydrophobic polymer matrix is usually poo...

The nonlinear cohesive law derived from the weak van der Waals force for carbon nanotube/polymer interfaces is incorporated in present study of CNT-reinforced composites. Carbon nanotubes can indeed improve the mechanical behavior of composite at the small strain, but such improvement disappears at relatively large strain because the completely debonded nanotubes behave like voids in the matrix...