(A) study on CNT / epoxy composite films

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have remarkable mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity in spite of low density. Recently, CNT / epoxy composite have been widely investigated in terms of fabrication process and material characterizations. However, there have been few previous studies on films type CNT / epoxy composite. We fabricated type CNT / epoxy composite films which have thickness of 26 and characterized their properties. The most important issue on fabrication of films were uniform dispersion of CNTs in epoxy resin. Therefore, in this thesis, effect of solvent and ultrasonic treatment on CNT dispersion were investigated and optimized process for fabrication of CNT / epoxy films was suggested. Curing behavior, mechanical properties, and electrical properties of fabricated films were characterized with change of CNT contents and length. According to experimental results, CNTs lowered the activation energy of epoxy resin, also increased the mechanical strength of composite films by 13% at 2wt% of CNT loading, and increased electrical conductivity of epoxy resin.