2009, Krause, Beate, Petzold, Gudrun, Pegel, Sven, Pötschke, Petra

In order to assess the dispersability of carbon nanotube materials, tubes produced under different synthesis conditions were dispersed in aqueous surfactant solutions and the sedimentation behaviour under centrifugation forces was investigated using a LUMiFuge stability analyzer. The electrical percolation threshold of the nanotubes after melt mixing in polyamide 6.6 was determined and the state of dispersion was studied. As a general tendency, the nanotubes having better aqueous dispersion stability showed lower electrical percolation threshold and better nanotube dispersion in the composites. This indicates that the investigation of the stability of aqueous dispersions is also able to give information about the nanotubes inherent dispersability in polymer melts, both strongly influenced by the entanglement and agglomerate structure of the tubes within the as-produced nanotube materials. The shape of the nanotubes in the aqueous dispersions was assessed using a SYSMEX flow particle image analyzer and found to correspond to the shape observed from cryofractured surfaces of the polymer composites. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2009, Krause, Beate, Pötschke, Petra, Häußler, Liane

Polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 6.6 (PA66) were filled with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) using small scale melt mixing under variation of processing conditions, including temperature, rotation speed, and mixing time. In PA66 an electrical percolation threshold of 1 wt% MWNT was found which is lower than that of PA6 at 2.5-4 wt%. In both cases mixing conditions influenced strongly the dispersion and distribution of CNT and the electrical volume resistivity, whereas crystallisation behaviour was only slightly changed. With increasing mixing energy input remaining agglomerates were less in number and smaller, leading to better dispersion. On the other hand, in samples containing 5 wt% MWNT in PA6 electrical volume resistivity showed a minimum at a quite low energy input and then increased considerably with further input of mixing energy. This increase may be related to MWNT breaking during mixing and encapsulation of MWNT by the polyamide chains. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.