Improving the mechanical and damping properties of polymer/memory alloy composite by introducing nanotubes covered with nano-scale Ni particles

Ni@CNT reinforced polymer/memory alloy damping composites were successfully fabricated by filling a porous CuAlMn shape memory alloy skeleton structure using polyurethane/epoxy interpenetrating network matrix. As 4 wt% Ni@CNT is dispersed in the polymer matrix, the loss factor (ratio of loss modulus to storage modulus) of the composite is above 0.09, and the maximum value can reach 0.156, at the whole test frequency (0.1 ∼ 200 Hz) and temperature (-10 ∼ 100 ℃) range. Meanwhile, its elastic modulus can reach 1137.9 MPa and the density is only 2.04 g/cm3. Compared with polymer/memory alloy composite, the average loss factor and elastic modulus of the prepared composite increased by 40.1% and 33.4%, respectively. A triphase damping model and a mechanical model were used to investigate the damping mechanism and elastic properties of composites, respectively. Calculation and simulation results indicated that the damping capacity of the Ni@CNT/polymer/memory alloy composite is basically related to interfacial dissipation, which is significantly enhanced via introducing nanotubes covered with nano-scale Ni particles. Due to the light weight, certain strength, good deformation resistance and excellent damping performance, this nanocomposite has potential applications in the damping field of aerospace.