Characterizing energy dissipation in single-walled carbon nanotube polycarbonate composites

In this study, single-walled carbon nanotube and bisphenol-A-polycarbonate composite beams were fabricated by a solution mixing process and dynamic (cyclic) load tests were performed to characterize energy dissipation. We report up to an order of magnitude ( > 1000 % ) increase in loss modulus of the polycarbonate system with the addition of 2% weight fraction of oxidized single-walled nanotube fillers. We show that the increase in damping is derived from frictional sliding at the nanotube-polymer interfaces. The nanoscale dimensions of the tubes not only result in large interfacial contact area, thereby generating high damping efficiency, but also enable seamless integration of the filler materials into the composite structure.