Preparation of SWNT-reinforced composites by a continuous mixing process

A continuous impingement mixing process is described that has been used to disperse unpurified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in a Shell EPON-862/EpiCURE system. Composites with up to 0.5 wt% of nanotubes were prepared by this process. Mechanical properties of these samples were compared with those of plain material and with samples prepared by hand-mixing, and they were found to be enhanced by up to 40%. More specifically, tensile stress was increased by 40% at 5% strain in composites prepared by impingement mixing. Recurrent mixing was also found to improve SWNT dispersion. The effect of stabilizing SWNTs with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) prior to composite preparation is also reported.