Multifunctional Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Polymer/Fiber Composites: Fiber-Based Integration and Properties

Carbon nanotubes are one of the most versatile nanomaterials currently used to modify the properties of both thermoplastic and thermoset-based composites, both with and without the use of a fibrous reinforcement phase. Electrically and thermally conductive by nature, their addition to traditional fiber-reinforced polymer composites has not only heralded increased mechanical properties in terms of flexural, tensile, impact, and interlaminar properties, but also allowed imparting inherent conductivity to the final composites, allowing the creation of specialized, isotropic, anisotropic, and hierarchically graded composites with applications ranging from self-diagnostic damage detection, de-icing to energy storage and conversion. The purpose of this book chapter is to focus on the methods used to integrate carbon nanotubes, both anistropically and anisotropically via techniques that focus solely on the fibrous reinforcement phase and not the matrix, into fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials. The chapter aims to review the properties that may result from such integration of the various techniques, provide a current state of the art of the multifunctional properties, which have been achieved thus far, and outline possible future dimensions of investigation and application