Development and characterization of electric field directed preferentially aligned CNT nanocomposites. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pothnis, Jayaram R.; Gururaja, Suhasini; Kalyanasundaram, Dinesh
• Is Part Of: Mechanics of advanced materials and structures. Volume 26:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 35
• Page End: 41
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Carbon nanotubes -- epoxy resin -- directional alignment -- non-uniform electric field -- nanoindentation; Composite materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Composite construction -- Periodicals; 620.118
• DOI: 10.1080/15376494.2018.1534165
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1537-6494

Abstract

Abstract: The present work demonstrates a novel method to preferentially orient carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in an epoxy matrix using a non-uniform electric field. The alignment method is based on the principle of dielectrophoresis. Aligned CNT/epoxy composites containing 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 wt. % CNTs, respectively were fabricated using the method. The elastic modulus and hardness of the samples evaluated using nanoindentation technique were observed to increase with increasing CNT loading. The tensile strength of nanocomposite samples containing 0.1 wt. % CNTs increased by approximately 27% due to CNT alignment in epoxy matrix.