The shear properties of carbon fiberreinforced epoxy compositescontaining carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube

Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite laminates containingCOOH-functionalizedmultiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)were fabricated by hand lay-up and compression hot press techniques. MWCNT at different content (0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 phr) were dispersed by ultrasonic into Epikote 828 epoxy resin. The unidirectional carbon fibers were impregnated with epoxy resin modified by MWCNT. In this study, the effect of MWCNT content level was studiedoninter-laminar shear and lab shear properties of carbon fiber/epoxy composites. Theexperimental results showed that the composite materialswith 0.3phr MWCNTs has the maximum improvementin the inter-laminar shear strength and lab shearstrengthand these properties were increased by 8% and 4.7% compared to theneat epoxy, respectively. Also the effect MWCNT was investigated on thermal properties including gel time and curing properties