Influence of Dispersion States of Carbon Nanotubes on Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Nanocomposites

Abstract

Prior to the discovery of nanotubes, no other material known to mankind possessed such a unique combination of extraordinary properties. It is this fact that most of the research work in the field of nanotechnology has been concentrated in the past decade around CNTs and their applications. CNTs are proven to be the stiffest, strongest and the toughest fiber ever known. The values of tensile strength that have been reported are by far the highest for any material. Their outstanding electrical conductivity values make the polymer to exhibit metallic-type conductivity by incorporating them as filler. Continuing along this line of research, novel CNT-based composites have been fabricated using different methods, expecting that the resulting composites would possess enhanced or completely new set of physical properties due to the addition of CNTs. Effects of different dispersion states of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on mechanical, properties of the epoxy nanocomposites were studied. The dispersion states were altered depending upon whether a solvent was employed or not. To characterize dispersion of the CNTs, optical microscope was used. It was found that the nanocomposites containing well dispersed CNTs exhibited higher flexural modulus than ones with poorly dispersed CNTs. From the morphological observation it was found that when the solvent was not used in the CNTs dispersion process, aggregates of pristine CNTs remained in the nanocomposites.