Methods of forming composite materials, which may include filament winding two or more carbon nanotube yarns to form one or more material layers, contacting the yarns with a resin, and applying one or more stretching forces to the material layers. Composite materials also are provided.

Chemical compositions are provided having a structure in accordance with ##STR00001##
with the R group having a structure in accordance with ##STR00002##
R.sup.1 includes an alkyl group, R.sup.2 includes an alkylene group, and R.sup.3 includes an alkylene group in accordance with (CH.sub.2).sub.x with x≥2, and R.sup.4 includes the structure of Formula (II) or Formula (III). R.sup.5 includes a meta-substituted or para-substituted phenyl moiety. Additionally, elastomers produced by cross-linking the chemical composition of Formula (I) are provided.

The method of covalently bonding carbon nanotubes to substrates is provided. The method comprises functionalizing a substrate and each open-end of a plurality of open-ended carbon nanotubes, embedding each of the plurality of open-ended carbon nanotubes within respective polymers, aligning, orthogonally, the plurality of open-ended carbon nanotubes relative to the substrate, and applying pressure on each of the plurality of open-ended carbon nanotubes relative to the substrate for enabling covalent bonding of each of the plurality of open-ended carbon nanotubes to the substrate.

A method of producing functionalized graphene oxide includes mixing graphene oxide with a reactive monomer containing at least one epoxy functional group and a secondary functional group that is selected from vinyl, acrylate, methacrylate, and epoxy to form a mixture, adding an activation agent, heating and stirring the mixture, cooling the mixture, separating the particles from the mixture, and drying the particles to produce functionalized graphene oxide. A method of manufacturing a cured polymer resin using functionalized graphene oxide includes mixing functionalized graphene oxide with a resin precursor to produce a functionalized graphene mixture, wherein the particles contain functional groups nearly identical to, or identical to, a polymer precursor material, adding a curing initiator to the functionalized graphene mixture and mixing to produce a formulation, depositing the formulation into a desired shape, and curing the formulation to form a polymer having functionalized graphene oxide groups in a base polymer material.

Disclosed herein is an electrically conductive sized fiber including a fiber and a sizing composition adhered to a surface of the fiber, wherein the sizing composition includes at least one sizing compound and a plurality of graphene oxide nanoparticles, The present disclosure also discloses fiber-reinforced resin composites, articles including fiber-reinforced resin composites and methods of making such electrically conductive sized fiber and articles therefrom.

Melt emulsification may be employed to form elastomeric particulates in a narrow size range when nanoparticles are included as an emulsion stabilizer. Such processes may comprise combining a polyurethane polymer and nanoparticles with a carrier fluid at a heating temperature at or above a melting point or a softening temperature of the polyurethane polymer, applying sufficient shear to disperse the polyurethane polymer as liquefied droplets in the presence of the nanoparticles in the carrier fluid at the heating temperature, cooling the carrier fluid at least until elastomeric particulates in a solidified state form, and separating the elastomeric particulates from the carrier fluid. In the elastomeric particulates, the polyurethane polymer defines a core and an outer surface of the elastomeric particulates and the nanoparticles are associated with the outer surface. The elastomeric particulates may have a D50 of about 1 m to about 1,000 m.

Provided is an elastic heat spreader film comprising: a) a graphitic film prepared from graphitization of a polymer film or pitch film, wherein the graphitic film has graphitic crystals parallel to one another and parallel to a film plane, having an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.34 nm, and wherein the graphitic film alone, after compression, has a thermal conductivity at least 600 W/mK, an electrical conductivity no less than 4,000 S/cm, and a physical density greater than 1.7 g/cm.sup.3; and b) an elastomer or rubber that permeates into the graphitic film from at least a surface of the film; wherein the elastomer or rubber is in an amount from 0.001% to 30% by weight based on the total heat spreader film weight. The elastic heat spreader film has a fully recoverable tensile elastic strain from 2% to 100% and an in-plane thermal conductivity from 100 W/mK to 1,750 W/mK.

A rotary member rotatable along a circumferential direction includes: carbon fibers wound in the circumferential direction; a matrix resin in which the carbon fibers are embedded; and a structure which includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes having a bent shape with a bent portion, forms a network structure including a contact portion where the carbon nanotubes are in direct contact with each other, and is provided on surfaces of the carbon fibers.

The present invention provides methods for uniform growth of nanostructures such as nanotubes (e.g., carbon nanotubes) on the surface of a substrate, wherein the long axes of the nanostructures may be substantially aligned. The nanostructures may be further processed for use in various applications, such as composite materials. For example, a set of aligned nanostructures may be formed and transferred, either in bulk or to another surface, to another material to enhance the properties of the material. In some cases, the nanostructures may enhance the mechanical properties of a material, for example, providing mechanical reinforcement at an interface between two materials or plies. In some cases, the nanostructures may enhance thermal and/or electronic properties of a material. The present invention also provides systems and methods for growth of nanostructures, including batch processes and continuous processes.

A method for forming a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite by distributing carbon fibers or nanotubes into a molten polymer phase comprising one or more molten polymers; and applying a succession of shear strain events to the molten polymer phase so that the molten polymer phase breaks the carbon fibers successively with each event, producing reactive edges on the broken carbon fibers that react with and cross-link the one or more polymers. The composite shows improvements in mechanical properties, such as stiffness, strength and impact energy absorption.