Electrical and mechanical properties of composite materials based on Carbon Nanotubes for aerospace applications

Nanostructured materials gained great importance in the past decade, owing to their wide range of potential applications in many areas, e.g. mechanical, structura l, sensor devices, biomedical, electronics. A large interest is involved with carbon nanotubes, which can be used as a main constituent of composite materials characterized by exceptional mechanical and electrical properties, very suitable for aerospace ap plications, due to their light weight, mechanical strength and flexibility. Recent results obtained in our laboratories are presented, concerning measurements of the electrical and mechanical properties (resilience and Young Modulus, conductivity) of a po lymer matrix, reinforced with carbon nanotubes synthesized by arc discharge and other techniques. Stress and numerical analysis of aerospace structures using carbon nanotubes reinforced composite materials are presented. The evaluation of the reduction wei ght of a typical aerospace structure is discussed.