title: Multi-scale numerical simulations of thermal expansion properties of CNT-reinforced nanocomposites.
abstract: In this work, the thermal expansion properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced nanocomposites with CNT content ranging from 1 to 15 wt% were evaluated using a multi-scale numerical approach, in which the effects of two parameters, i.e., temperature and CNT content, were investigated extensively. For all CNT contents, the obtained results clearly revealed that within a wide low-temperature range (30°C ~ 62°C), thermal contraction is observed, while thermal expansion occurs in a high-temperature range (62°C ~ 120°C). It was found that at any specified CNT content, the thermal expansion properties vary with temperature - as temperature increases, the thermal expansion rate increases linearly. However, at a specified temperature, the absolute value of the thermal expansion rate decreases nonlinearly as the CNT content increases. Moreover, the results provided by the present multi-scale numerical model were in good agreement with those obtained from the corresponding theoretical analyses and experimental measurements in this work, which indicates that this multi-scale numerical approach provides a powerful tool to evaluate the thermal expansion properties of any type of CNT/polymer nanocomposites and therefore promotes the understanding on the thermal behaviors of CNT/polymer nanocomposites for their applications in temperature sensors, nanoelectronics devices, etc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chiba University, Yayoi-cho 1-33, Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan. huning@faculty.chiba-u.jp.
authors.forename: Affa
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authors.lastname: Alamusi
authors.forename: Ning
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authors.lastname: Hu
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authors.forename: Yuan
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authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: Yaolu
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authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Huiming
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authors.forename: Liangke
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authors.forename: Jinhua
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authors.forename: Weifeng
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authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Tomonori
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authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Cheng
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authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yajun
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authors.lastname: Zhang