Simulation of dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes in polymer flow using dissipative particle dynamics

B Zhou and W Luo and JQ Yang and XB Duan and YW Wen and HM Zhou and R Chen and B Shan, COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 126, 35-42 (2017).

DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2016.09.012

Dispersion and alignment of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polymer composites in equilibrated and shear flow conditions are studied using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD). Dispersion possibility and average angle are proposed to quantitatively measure the degree of dispersion and alignment of CNTs. Higher degree of the CNT dispersion is obtained by decreasing DPD repulsion parameter. Notable improvement of the alignment is achieved by increasing the volume fraction and the length of CNTs. The increase of CNT volume fraction is particularly efficient in enhancing the alignment of well dispersed composites when CNTs are long and the alignment of poorly dispersed composites when CNT volume fraction is small (< 9.4%). (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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