Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Sullivan, Rani Warsi

Committee Member

Pittman, Charles U., Jr.

Committee Member

Toghiani, Hossein

Committee Member

DuBien, Janice

Committee Member

Lacy, Thomas E.

Date of Degree

5-11-2013

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

The effects of vapor-grown carbon nanofiber (VGCNF) weight fraction, applied stress, and temperature on the viscoelastic responses (creep strain, creep rate, and creep compliance) of VGCNF/vinyl ester (VE) nanocomposites were studied using a central composite design (CCD). The nanocomposite test articles were fabricated by high shear mixing, casting, curing, and post-curing in an open face mold under a nitrogen environment. Short-term creep/creep recovery experiments were conducted at prescribed combinations of temperatures (23.8 – 69.2 C), applied stresses (30.2 – 49.8 MPa), and VGCNF weight fractions (0.00 – 1.00 parts of VGCNF per hundred parts of resin, phr) determined from the CCD. The response surface models (RSMs) for predicting these viscoelastic responses were developed using the least squares method and an analysis of variance procedure. The response surface estimates indicate that increasing the VGCNF weight fraction decreases the creep resistance of the VGCNF/VE nanocomposites at high temperatures (46.5 – 69.2 C).

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20554

Download

Share

COinS