Bismaleimide/carbon nanotube hybrids for potential aerospace application: I. Static and dynamic mechanical properties

Two kinds of hybrids based on diallyl bisphenol A modified bismaleimide (BMI‐BA) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or aminated carbon nanotubes (A‐CNTs) were prepared, their static and dynamic mechanical properties were investigated in detail by using impact and flexural measurements as well as dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Results show that these mechanical properties of hybrids greatly depended on the nature (or the functional groups on CNTs) and loading in BMI‐BA matrix of hybrids. For example, the BMI‐BA/A‐CNT hybrid with a desirable amount of A‐CNTs has a higher impact strength than the original BMI‐BA resin, while all BMI‐BA/CNT hybrids have lower impact strength than the original BMI‐BA resin. DMA test shows that all hybrids have somewhat lower storage modulus and glass transition temperature than a pure polymer, which maybe attributed to the fact that both CNTs and A‐CNTs shift the curing peak to a higher temperature range and thus decrease the crosslinking density of networks. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.