Currently, JSC produces SWNTs with repeatable properties in quantities that allow studies towards possible applications. These will allow the development of multifunctional materials which may have tailorable thermal, electrical, or sensor properties. The capability of SWNTs to couple to the matrix is determined by the type of functionalization procedure that includes high-temperature annealing for purification purpose and sulfonation or amination. Raman spectroscopy, on the other hand, provides a unique opportunity to probe, on a microscopic level, the introduced strains in a structural material by measuring the changes in the SWNTs vibrational spectrum. An important consequence of such experiments is that we expect to determine load transfer from the matrix to the SWNTs.
Load transfer is of crucial importance for the design of structural materials.
IR spectroscopy measurements are expected to supply important information for eventual new bonds that may be created from SWNT and matrix coupling. Experimental and technical approach Nanotube composites are new structural materials. Science has little experience in studying their properties including the technologies of Raman and IR spectroscopy. The methodology is based on measurements of polarized Raman spectra of nanotube composite beams bent to give surface compression or tensile deformation. For the purpose of experimentation, a four-point bending device was made to fit the microscope stage of the spectrometer.