Conductive Properties of Unidirectionally Aligned Carbon Nanofiber/Epoxy composite

摘要

It is well known that carbon nanofibers (CNFs) enhance stiffness, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity of polymers. Alignment of carbon nanofibers in polymers is expected to increase the performances in the aligned direction. Application of alternating electric field to uncured epoxy including CNFs may cause alignment of CNFs in the electric field direction, and thus unidirectionally aligned carbon nanofibers/epoxy composites can be fabricated. In this study, unidirectionally aligned carbon nanofiber/epoxy composite was fabricated under AC electric field, and electrical and thermal conductivities were measured for various weight fraction of CNFs. Experimental results show that alignment enhances the electrical conductive properties.