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Studies on the Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Polycarbonate
Author(s) -
Takase Hirofumi,
Odusanya O. S.,
Matsuda S.,
Murakami A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
developments in chemical engineering and mineral processing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 0969-1855
DOI - 10.1002/apj.5500110409
Subject(s) - materials science , polycarbonate , dispersion (optics) , shear rate , residence time distribution , composite material , volumetric flow rate , conductivity , mixing (physics) , carbon nanotube , electrical resistivity and conductivity , analytical chemistry (journal) , flow (mathematics) , chemistry , thermodynamics , optics , chromatography , geometry , mathematics , rheology , electrical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
We investigated the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in a polycarbonate matrix under varying flow conditions to determine the most efficient dispersion parameter. Distributive mixing was investigated by a flow digitization technique as well as electrical conductivity of the materials. Residence time distribution (RTD) was obtained from an integral of the area under an absorbance‐time curve. Total shear strain rate was obtained by multiplying RTD by shear rate. The area ratio of the filler (Ar) was determined by an image analysis technique where fillers less than 0.36μm were counted as unoccupied area. Area ratio decreased with increasing total shear strain rate, while volume resistivity decreased with decreasing area ratio. We observed an optimum value of Ar for conductivity. Increasing barrel temperature did not have a dramatic effect on dispersion. It was observed that the dominant dispersion parameters were shear rate and RTD.