Study of Ultrasonic Dispersion Method in CNT Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

摘要

In this paper, effects of various process parameters on the dispersion of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) in SC-15 epoxy resin were studied. The process parameters considered in the study were CNT wt%, bath and tip sonication, sonication time, surfactant type and solvent. Nanocomposites were manufactured using various combinations of the process parameters in both bath sonication (BS) and tip sonication (TS) methods. The objective was to establish dependable process parameters to achieve improved CNT dispersion. The dispersion of SWNT in nanocomposites was studied using optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopic examinations. The tensile strength and modulus of the nanocomposites were investigated for all the CNPCs manufactured through various process parameters. A significant improvement in modulus was observed mostly for CNPC specimens with 0.1 wt% SWNTs. But in most cases the strength of the CNPCs seems to decrease as the modulus increases. Microscopic examinations show that the SWNTs were well dispersed particularly for tip sonication method. The dispersion of CNT is enhanced with acetone and BYK-9076 surfactant as compared to ethanol. A reduction in the modulus is observed as the tip sonication time increases from 2 hr to 4 hr. This is may be due to breakage of SWNT at higher sonication time.