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Ultrasonic Welding of Bulk Carbon Nanotube Conductors
Author(s) -
Schauerman Christopher M.,
Alvarenga Jack,
Staub Jason,
Forney Michael W.,
Foringer Ryan,
Landi Brian J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201400117
Subject(s) - materials science , carbon nanotube , welding , ultrasonic welding , composite material , ultrasonic sensor , contact resistance , cold welding , electrical contacts , electrical conductor , copper , electric resistance welding , metallurgy , heat affected zone , layer (electronics) , gas metal arc welding , acoustics , physics
Incorporation of bulk carbon nanotube (CNT) conductors into energy and data systems can require new methods of making a functional interface with low electrical contact resistance and high mechanical strength. Ultrasonic welding has been shown as a viable technique for mechanically and electrically bonding commercial CNT materials (CVD) to copper foil. The mechanical strength across the ultrasonic welds was measured via dynamic mechanical analysis with single lap welds exceeding 350 kPa. The electrical properties of the ultrasonically welded bulk CNT conductors (chemically doped with KAuBr 4 ) to Cu were measured via 4‐point probe and show specific contact resistance between the CNTs and copper as low as 4.3 mΩ cm 2 . Thus, ultrasonic welding represents a mechanically robust method for making functional contacts between bulk CNTs and metallic interconnects with a low contact resistance. In addition, ultrasonic welding was successfully used to join two CNT ribbons end‐to‐end (breaking strength of single lap welds exceeding 200 kPa) demonstrating that it is also a viable technique for making larger dimension CNT materials from smaller components.