A two-dimensional simulation to predict the electrical behavior of carbon nanotube/polymer composites

In this research work, a two-dimensional model for randomly dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) in polymer hosts was used to predict the electrical percolation threshold (EPT) of the resulted composites in different concentrations of CNT. This was performed under a fixed DC voltage for different polymer matrices, such as high-density polyethylene, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polycarbonate, and polyethylene terephthalate via finite element method (FEM). The predicted EPT values in different composites were validated by experimental results published by other scientists. Results show that the electrical conductivity of the composites was strongly dependent on CNT weight percentages. Also, adding CNTs to the polymer matrix caused a decrease in the tunneling distance for various polymers in composites. Our results show that FEM could capture more details in the prediction of EPT in the nanocomposites.