Carbon nanotubes with temperature-invariant viscoelasticity from -196 degrees to 1000 degrees C.
Viscoelasticity describes the ability of a material to possess both elasticity and viscosity. Viscoelastic materials, such as rubbers, possess a limited operational temperature range (for example, for silicone rubber it is -55° to 300°C), above which the material breaks down and below which the material undergoes a glass transition and hardens. We created a viscoelastic material composed from a random network of long interconnected carbon nanotubes that exhibited an operational temperature range from -196° to 1000°C. The storage and loss moduli, frequency stability, reversible deformation level, and fatigue resistance were invariant from -140° to 600°C. We interpret that the thermal stability stems from energy dissipation through the zipping and unzipping of carbon nanotubes at contacts.
Technology Research Association for Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (TASC) and Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8565, Japan.
Ming
M
Xu
Don N
DN
Futaba
Takeo
T
Yamada
Motoo
M
Yumura
Kenji
K
Hata