Even if the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their derivatives are commonly used as reinforcing phase in composite materials, also in commercial products, their tendency to agglomerate generally determines a scarce dispersion, thus not maximizing the effect due to the second phase. In this article, a perfect dispersion of highly entangled nanotubes was achieved by using a very simple approach: exploiting the dispersing effect of a low‐cost polymer, polyvinyl butyral (PVB), coupled with standard ultrasound sonication. Several dispersion approaches were tested in order to develop a consistent and widely applicable dispersion protocol. The tape casting technology was subsequently used to produce 100 to 300 μm thick PVB‐matrix composite tapes, reinforced by multiwall CNTs dispersed according to the optimized protocol. Their mechanical properties were evaluated, and a simple model was used to demonstrate that the effective dispersion of CNTs is the key to obtain significantly improved properties.

中文翻译：

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具有碳纳米管的聚乙烯醇缩丁醛基复合材料：有效分散是实现高机械性能的关键

即使碳纳米管（CNT）及其衍生物通常在复合材料中也用作增强相，也在商业产品中，它们的附聚趋势通常决定了稀疏的分散性，因此不会最大化由于第二相而产生的效果。在本文中，通过使用一种非常简单的方法可以实现高度纠缠的纳米管的完美分散：利用低成本聚合物聚乙烯醇缩丁醛（PVB）的分散效果，再结合标准超声超声处理。测试了几种分散方法，以开发出一致且广泛适用的分散方案。随后采用流延铸造技术生产厚度为100至300μm的PVB矩阵复合带，并通过根据优化方案分散的多壁CNT进行加固。