Carbon Nanotube Polymer Composites

Figure2 While there are limitless applications for these materials, we are interested in radiation shielding and radiation resistant materials for use in the space industry. Initially, we focused on optically transparent single wall nanotoube (SWNT) polymer composites (2-5). Three different in situ polymerization/sonication methods, heat, light and gamma radiation, were used to produce poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanotube composites. When these composites are dissolved in methylene chloride and immediately cast into films, they exhibit a high degree of transparency (fig. 1). All of the composites in fig. 1 contain 0.26 wt% carbon nanotubes. The dark sample on the bottom right was made by melt blending 0.26% carbon nanotubes with the PMMA in a Banbury mixer. This illustrates the dramatic effect of dispersion quality on transparency. The dispersion in a typical sonicated sample is depicted in the SEM image shown in fig. 2. The intimacy of the nanotube-polymer interactions are evidenced by the appearance of a dielectrically active gamma transition associated with methyl group rotation in the polymer. This transition is normally inactive