Title : 
Effect of CNTs alignment on electrical conductivity of PDMS/MWCNTs composites
         
        
            Author : 
Fangjun Liu ; Weijie Sun ; Zhendong Sun ; Yeow, John T. W.
         
        
            Author_Institution : 
Sch. of Autom. Sci. & Eng., South China Univ. of Technol., Guangzhou, China
         
        
        
        
        
        
            Abstract : 
A new 3D percolation network model is proposed to analyze the effects of CNTs alignment on electrical conductivity of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/CNTs composites, wherein the polymer-type dependent formula is employed to adjust data in comprehensive experiments. In the Monte Carlo simulation, the percolation threshold of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTS) filled PDMS composites at each given alignment is compared with existing experiment results. The results show that for a fixed measurement direction, perfectly aligned MWCNTs results in a worse conductivity; while for a fixed volume fraction and partially aligned CNTs, with alignment angle of 30°, can achieve the best electrical conductivity for PDMS/MWCNTs composites.
         
        
            Keywords : 
Monte Carlo methods; carbon nanotubes; electrical conductivity; filled polymers; nanocomposites; percolation; 3D percolation network model; C; CNT alignment; Monte Carlo simulation; PDMS-MWCNT composites; alignment angle; electrical conductivity; multiwalled CNT filled PDMS composites; percolation threshold; polydimethylsiloxane-CNT composites; polymer-type dependent formula; volume fraction; Carbon nanotubes; Conductivity; Load modeling; Loading; Polymers; Resistance; Solid modeling; Alignment; Electrical conductivity; Percolation; Polydimethylsiloxane;
         
        
        
        
            Conference_Titel : 
Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO), 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on
         
        
            Conference_Location : 
Toronto, ON
         
        
        
            DOI : 
10.1109/NANO.2014.6968122