Micromechanical analysis of effective properties of polymer matrix composites containing piezoelectric spherical particles and carbon nanotubes

In this article, the Mori-Tanaka micromechanical approach is used to obtain the elastic and piezoelectric properties of a hybrid composite with a polyamide matrix and reinforced with piezoelectric particles of lead zirconate titanate and carbon nanotubes. Modeling consists of two steps, first, the effect of carbon nanotube distribution in the polyamide matrix is calculated, In the next step, the obtained results were used to calculate the addition of piezoelectric particles. The model has been validated with experimental results and previous studies. the increase in the volume fraction of piezoelectric particles causes an increase in the elastic and shear moduli and piezoelectric constants. Modeling for uniform and non-uniform distribution of carbon nanotubes has been done. The results show that by adding carbon nanotubes, the elastic moduli and piezoelectric constants increase. Also, the agglomeration of carbon nanotubes reduces these modules.