The interface effect of the effective electrical conductivity of carbon nanotube composites

Abstract

A model of the effective electrical conductivity for carbon nanotube (CNT) composites is presented by incorporating the interface effect with an average field theory. The dependence of the effective electrical conductivity on CNT length, diameter, concentration, and interface properties has been taken care of simultaneously in our treatment so that the model can describe well the interface effect of CNT composites. Predictions from the model are in good agreement with the experimental values of the effective electrical conductivity of CNT composites which the classical models have not been able to explain.

Fabrication and multifunctional properties of a hybrid laminate with aligned carbon nanotubes grown In Situ

“…A direct-path network of aligned CNTs was observed with $0.5% CNT volume fraction (clearly above the percolation threshold in pure epoxy). Such an improvement is expected, as plastics realize significantly enhanced conductivity at low loadings of unoriented CNTs [30][31][32]. Further, the decrease in through-thickness resistivity is two orders of magnitude greater than the in-plane value.…”

Multiscale modeling of effective electrical conductivity of short carbon fiber-carbon nanotube-polymer matrix hybrid composites

“…Several physics-based computational approaches have been developed for calculating the homogenized electrical conductivity of CNT-polymer composites [15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. In CNT-polymer composites, the CNT-CNT and CNT-polymer interactions are governed by weak non-bonding interactions.…”

“…P, Q, T and H are constants and are determined using appropriate boundary conditions [17]. The average electrical field intensity in CNTs, E cx , and the interphase, E intx , are given, respectively, by…”

High‐Conductivity Polymer Nanocomposites Obtained by Tailoring the Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube Fillers

“…Recently, Yan et al modeled the conductivity of CNT/ polymer nanocomposites. [83] They found that if the intrinsic conductivity of CNTs, dispersed in a polymer matrix increases from 3 Â 10 4 S m À1 to 5.4 Â 10 6 S m À1 , the conductivity of the corresponding nanocomposites can increase by more than one order of magnitude. While it may have been instructive to measure the conductivities of individual IPCNTs and VGCNTs, challenges with isolating and contacting individual CNTs would make these measurements not fully instructive regarding electrical behavior of the composite network.…”