Continuum level micromechanics approaches are employed herein to study the effects of clustering and non-perfect load transfer in carbon nanotube reinforced polymer matrix composites. Constitutive properties describing the nanotubes themselves are derived from computational efforts at lower length scales involving ab initio and molecular dynamics simulations from which solid transversely isotropic effective nanotubes are obtained via the composite cylinders method. Effective properties for composites with well dispersed nanotubes are obtained using the generalized self-consistent and Mori-Tanaka methods where both aligned and unaligned nanotube orientations are considered. Clustering in aligned nanotube composites is then quantified using a Dirichlet tessellation, and modeled using an n-phase composite cylinders approach in conjunction with the n-phase generalized self-consistent technique. Varying degrees of non-perfect load transfer between the polymer matrix and the carbon nanotubes are captured using cohesive zones in finite element simulations coupled with the n-phase composite cylinders/n-phase self-consistent approach. Initial results indicate that clustering is less detrimental to optimum composite performance than is misalignment of carbon nanotubes and non-perfect load transfer.
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