PROCESSING OF CARBON NANOTUBE (CNT) BUCKYPAPER/EPOXY RESIN MATRIX NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

A new approach has been used to produce highly loaded CNT (carbon nanotube) nanocomposites by infiltrating CNT skeletons or papers with a low viscosity epoxy resin in a closed mold. CNT were first produced into thin papers called buckypapers to form networks of CNT ropes. The impregnation was then made by infiltrating a low viscosity epoxy resin along the carbon nanotube buckypaper structure. After cure, the nanocomposites were demolded and post-cured in an electrical oven. The level of impregnation was accessed by physical measurements and observations under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the proposed processing approach is capable of producing well dispersed nanocomposites with high CNT loading (more than 15wt% in resin weight), which are important for developing high performance structures based on Carbon nanotubes with good thermal and electrical conductivity.