Electrical Percolation in Carbon Nanotube Dispersions: A Mesoscale Modeling and Experimental Study

摘要

This paper describes our current work on electrical percolation in carbon nanotubes filled thermoplastic polymer fibers. The objective of this work is to develop an understanding of how the electrical properties of the nanotube/polymer composites are affected by processing conditions, orientation of nanotubes, and their loading fraction. In the first part of the work, mesoscale modelling of nanotubes was carried out using a dissipative particle dynamics method. The percolation threshold required to achieve an electrically conductive network of nanotubes within in a polymer fibre was predicted as a function of orientation and aspect ratio of nanotubes using a Monte Carlo method to measure the network impedance. In the second part of this work, X-ray diffraction analyses were carried out to find the degree of alignment of nanotubes in polyamide 12 fibers.