On the manufacturing and electrical and mechanical properties of ultra-high wt.% fraction aligned MWCNT and randomly oriented CNT epoxy composites

Journal
Carbon  
Volume
91
Start Page
275
End Page
290
Citation
Carbon (91): 275-290 (2015-05-30)
Publisher DOI
10.1016/j.carbon.2015.04.085
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84930211828
Publisher
Elsevier Science
The effect of CNT orientation on electrical and mechanical properties is presented on the example of an ultra-high filler loaded multi-walled carbon nanotube (68 wt.% MWCNTs) epoxy-based nanocomposite. A novel manufacturing method based on hot-press infiltration through a semi-permeable membrane allows to obtain both, nanocomposites with aligned and randomly oriented CNTs (APNCs and RPNCs) over a broad filler loading range of ≈10-68 wt.%. APNCs are based on low-defected, mm-long aligned MWCNT arrays grown in chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process. Electrical conductivity and mechanical properties were measured parallel and perpendicular to the direction of CNTs. RPNCs are based on both, aligned mm-long MWCNTs and randomly oriented commercial μm-long and entangled MWCNTs (Baytube C150P, and exemplarily Arkema Graphistrength C100). The piezoresistive strain sensing capability of these high-wt.% APNCs and RPNCs had been investigated towards the influence of CNT orientations. For the highest CNT fraction of 68 wt.% of unidirectional aligned CNTs a Young's modulus of E<inf>||</inf> ≈ 36 GPa and maximum electrical conductivity of σ<inf>||</inf> ≈ 37·10<sup>4</sup> S/m were achieved.
DDC Class
600: Technik
More Funding Information
Support from: Landesexzellenzinitiative Hamburg LEXI, the Joachim Herz Stiftung Hamburg and the German Research Foundation (DFG) via SFB 986 M 3 , project B1. D.M. especially thanks the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for financial support.