A comparative analysis of thermos-mechanical behavior of CNT-reinforced composite plates: Capturing the effects of thermal shrinkage

Abstract

In this study, an analytical model based on the classical laminate theory (CLT) is developed for the prediction of the effective thermal expansion coefficients (ETECs) of general angle-ply laminates (symmetrical and asymmetrical). The applications of the derived model are shown by solved examples for the prediction of ETEC of carbon nanotube-reinforced (CNTRC) angle ply laminates for various ply angles. CNTRC laminates with a negative thermal coefficient (NTC) are obtained and considered as a special case. For an extreme case, a laying angle of (35/-35)3T and (55/-55)3T, along with an NTC of −0.79 × 10−5/K is achieved. Meanwhile, the Reddy shear plate model is extended to the framework of Von Kármán nonlinearity. The corresponding dynamic equations are analytically established. With the help of the two-perturbation approach, the deflection time history curves of the forced vibration are obtained. Numerical results show that the thermal-vibration behaviors may be adjusted and controlled by changing the TEC and functionally graded pattern. The presented analytical results not only are theoretically fundamental for understanding the thermal-vibration behavior of FG-CNTRC but also serve as guidelines for NTC design of composited laminated structures.

Keywords

• Negative thermal expansion coefficient
• Thermal shrinkage
• Theoretical model
• Carbon nanotube reinforced laminated structure
• Nonlinear vibration