Fabrication process and electromagnetic wave absorbing properties of carbon nanotube/metal/epoxy nanocomposites

Abstract

Pearl-necklace-structured CNT/Ni nanocomposite powders are fabricated by polyol process and homogeneously mixed with epoxy matrix to prepare CNT/Ni/Epoxy nanocomposite electromagnetic absorber. CNT/Ni/Epoxy nanocomposite showed better dispersion of CNT/Ni than in epoxy matrix CNT in CNT/Epoxy nanocomposite. This resulted enhancement of mechanical properties by homogenous dispersion and interfacial interaction between CNT/Ni and epoxy and increased electrical conductivity by order of 1 due to enhanced conductive network of CNT/Ni compared to CNT/Epoxy nanocomposite. This enhanced dispersion effect leads to an increase of loss tangent and reflection loss for CNT/Ni/Epoxy nanocomposite, compare to those of CNT/Epoxy nanocomposite in range of 8-12GHz. The enhanced electromagnetic absorbing properties of CNT/Ni/Epoxy nanocomposite are attributed to better dispersion of CNT/Ni nanocomposite powders than CNTs in CNT/Epoxy nanocomposite.