Elastic constants of carbon nanotube reinforced polymer nanocomposites

Typical electronics packages are assembled by integrating various parts on printed circuit boards (PCB). Traditional interconnect materials in electronics packages are not suitable for DoD electronics because in many DoD extremely transient conditions, mechanical failures of the whole packages invariably occur due to interconnect junction failures. The long-term objective of the research is to computationally investigate the effect of high strain rate loadings on the thermal and mechanical damage/failure of carbon nanotube reinforced polymer nanocomposites, while retaining their electrical functionality. In pursuit of our research goal, we first seek to obtain the elastic response of the nanocomposites. In particular, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are dispersed in polymer matrix in a random fashion. In the present study, a two-dimensional network of CNTs spread in polymer matrix is statistically generated using Matlab code. This Representative Volume Element (RVE) is further processed into a Finite Element Model (FEM). Abaqus is employed to evaluate the elastic constants such as Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and shear modulus for this nanocomposite. Further, Halpin-Tsai equations are used to compare the values obtained from the finite element analysis.