title: Modeling electrical conductivities of nanocomposites with aligned carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We have developed an improved three-dimensional (3D) percolation model to investigate the effect of the alignment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the electrical conductivity of nanocomposites. In this model, both intrinsic and contact resistances are considered, and a new method of resistor network recognition that employs periodically connective paths is developed. This method leads to a reduction in the size effect of the representative cuboid in our Monte Carlo simulations. With this new technique, we were able to effectively analyze the effects of the CNT alignment upon the electrical conductivity of nanocomposites. Our model predicted that the peak value of the conductivity occurs for partially aligned rather than perfectly aligned CNTs. It has also identified the value of the peak and the corresponding alignment for different volume fractions of CNTs. Our model works well for both multi-wall CNTs (MWCNTs) and single-wall CNTs (SWCNTs), and the numerical results show a quantitative agreement with existing experimental observations.
authors.affiliation: Mechanics and Aerospace Design Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Meguid
authors.forename: Z H
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Meguid
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon