Carbon nanotube (CNT)/thermoplastic composites have
many potential applications. However, processing
CNT/thermoplastic composites has been extremely
challenging due to the nano scale of CNT and their
inherently strong affinity to themselves. Two major
issues in processing CNT/thermoplastic composites
for enhanced mechanical properties are achieving
uniform dispersion and producing alignment of the
nanotubes in the polymer matrix. This book presents
an approach that used a combination of surfactant-
aided mixing, extrusion, and various drawing
processing techniques to successfully obtain
significant improvement of nanotube dispersion and
alignment in a semi-crystalline polymer matrix. The
processing techniques used were relatively simple
without the requirement of sophisticated equipment,
making low-cost and easy commercial processing a
possibility. This book also provided a practical
method for dispersion and alignment measurement that
correlated with the material strength.
many potential applications. However, processing
CNT/thermoplastic composites has been extremely
challenging due to the nano scale of CNT and their
inherently strong affinity to themselves. Two major
issues in processing CNT/thermoplastic composites
for enhanced mechanical properties are achieving
uniform dispersion and producing alignment of the
nanotubes in the polymer matrix. This book presents
an approach that used a combination of surfactant-
aided mixing, extrusion, and various drawing
processing techniques to successfully obtain
significant improvement of nanotube dispersion and
alignment in a semi-crystalline polymer matrix. The
processing techniques used were relatively simple
without the requirement of sophisticated equipment,
making low-cost and easy commercial processing a
possibility. This book also provided a practical
method for dispersion and alignment measurement that
correlated with the material strength.