Effect of Multi-Walled Carbon Nano tubes on the Quasi-Static Lateral Crushing Characteristics of Hybrid Glass-Basalt Fabric Reinforced Epoxy Tubes

Nano composite cylindrical tubular elements could be considerably employed as energy mitigating components for dissipating the impact energy during vehicular collisions. The current research work aimed to explore the lateral crashworthiness response of Multi-Walled Carbon Nano Tubes (MWCNT) filled epoxy composite (basalt and glass fabric) tubes of three different inner diameters using quasi-static compression. Final deformed shapes and crush force vs. deformation curves of all the recommended typical tube sections are calculated and discussed elaborately. The conclusions obtained exposed that better crashworthiness features of MWCNT reinforced epoxy composite tubes with a larger diameter, were owing to the favourable deformation styles occurring during lateral crushing process. Furthermore, the suggested hybrid composite cylindrical tubes with nano-fillers might be applied as energy dissipating components in modern vehicles.