Processing and characterization of carbon nanotube mat/epoxy composites

Abstract

A carbon nanotube mat (CNT mat) with long (~1 mm) multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was used to process MWCNT/epoxy composites at high concentrations (4.4 and 10.0 wt.%) of MWCNTs by a simple method without the use of a solvent. The CNT mat circumvents several cumbersome processing steps, including the dispersion of CNTs in a solvent. Two different resin-impregnation processing methods were explored. The processing steps were chosen to prepare composite samples based on the performance of the composites and the simplicity of the processing techniques. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the microstructures of the CNT mat and its composites. The mechanical and electrical properties were tested. The tensile strengths of the composites with 10.0 wt.% MWCNTs were increased by 17% to 90% when compared to that of neat epoxy samples. The electrical conductivity of the composite is 36.1 S/cm. 4.4 wt.%-MWCNT composites show very large strain valuesupon fracturing (> 15 %), and their electrical conductivity is 14.9 S/cm. These results show that CNT mat/epoxy composites can be used as flexible electrodes and as a matrix system for advanced fiber composites.

The mechanical and electrical properties of direct-spun carbon nanotube mat-epoxy composites

“…Class (e): CNT mats and fibres are collected continuously by drawing CNT aerogels from a floating catalyst chemical vapour deposition reactor. These so-called "direct-spun" materials can be infiltrated with polymer solutions to create CNT-polymer composites [30][31][32][33][34][35]. It is this last set of materials which form the focus of the current study.…”

“…The reported moduli and strength of these classes of CNT-based composites [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] are assembled in Figure 2(a). For comparison, the strength and modulus of individual CNT walls [3,37] are included.…”

Electrical and thermal conductivities of carbon fiber composites with high concentrations of carbon nanotubes

“…The nominal thickness of the CNT mat is 15 µm, but it swells when soaked with resin. 7 For CF prepreg composites, WSN3K plain weave CF/epoxy prepreg (SK Chemicals, Korea) was used. According to the manufacturer's data, the thickness of the prepreg ply was 0.227 mm and the resin content was 41 vol%.…”

“…By using mat-like forms of CNTs (CNT mat), the cumbersome dispersion process of CNTs can be avoided by infusion of resin into mat material already containing CNTs. 7 However, CNT/polymer nanocomposites have shown comparably less difference in thermal conduction. This is likely the result of two main factors.…”

Improved mechanical properties of positive‐pressure filtered CNT buckypaper reinforced epoxy composites via modified preparation process

“…There are some sporadic pioneer works on study of the CNT BPs reinforced epoxy composites . Wang et al used hot‐press molding process to fabricate single‐walled CNT BPs/epoxy composites, the storage moduli could reach 15 GPa with a CNTs loading of 39 wt%.…”