Electrical percolation networks of carbon nanotubes in a shear flow.

ABSTRACT

The effect of shear on the electrical percolation network of carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer composites is investigated using computer simulations. Configurations of CNTs in a simple shear, obtained by using Monte Carlo simulations, are used to locate the electrical percolation network of CNTs and calculate the electric conductivity. When exposed to the shear, CNTs align parallel to the shear direction and the electrical percolation threshold CNT concentration decreases. Meanwhile, after a certain period of the shear imposition above a critical shear rate, CNTs begin to form an aggregate and the percolating network of CNTs is broken, thus decreasing the electric conductivity significantly. We also construct quasiphase diagrams for the aggregate formation and the electrical percolation network formation to investigate the effect of the shear rate and CNT concentration.