Carbon Nanotube Composites- Potential for Rotorcraft Application

This paper has two main components. The first component will provide a general introduction to carbon nanotube technology and how carbon nanotubes may be infiltrated into epoxy and polymer composites to form novel nano-composite materials. In the second part of this paper we will discuss various mechanical properties of nano-composite materials that are of relevance to rotorcraft structures. These include viscoelastic properties (i.e. storage, loss modulus and loss factor) as well as fatigue and fracture properties. We will also discuss the possibility of using these multifunctional materials for structural health monitoring in composite structures.