Many studies were performed to improve CNT dispersion into epoxy using different mechanical dispersion methods as well as CNT functionalization. In this study, a novel method is introduced to enhance CNT dispersion using 2D nanoclay as a secondary filler. Hence, this study was aimed to investigate the effect of nanoclay platelets on electrical, mechanical, and piezoresistive characteristics of the SWCNTs doped epoxy nanocomposites. Two different types of nanocomposites were prepared for comparison including binary (SWCNT/epoxy) and hybrid (SWCNT-nanoclay/epoxy) states. CNT content of 0.1 wt% was used for the binary and hybrid states while two different nanoclay loadings (0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt%) were employed in the hybrid nanocomposites. Tensile and mode I fracture tests were performed for the mechanical and electromechanical characterization using two probe techniques while electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used for microstructural analysis. Results showed severe CNT agglomeration in the binary state whilst a homogenous CNT dispersion was achieved in the ternary states. The binary nanocomposite showed weak performance in terms of electrical, mechanical and piezoresistive properties caused by severe CNT aggregates. On the other hand, addition of nanoclay into CNTs doped epoxy manifested a significant increase in the electrical, mechanical and piezoresistive-sensitivity performance of the hybrid nanocomposites compared to the binary one. The best performance was achieved at 0.5 wt% nanoclay loading where electrical conductivity increased by six orders of magnitude, UTS increased by 37%, K_IC and G_IC increased by 34% and 64%, respectively, with respect to the binary nanocomposite. Crack-pinning and crack deflection were accounted for the fracture toughness increase in ternary composites. Nonlinear piezoresistivity resulting from the predominate effect of tunneling resistance ruled piezoresistivity in the hybrid nanocomposites. A sensitivity of 2.1 and 2.0 at strain of 0.01 were obtained for 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% nanoclay contents, respectively, whereas no sensitivity was achieved for the binary composite.

进行了许多研究，以使用不同的机械分散方法以及CNT功能化来改善CNT在环氧树脂中的分散性。在这项研究中，介绍了一种使用2D纳米粘土作为辅助填料来增强CNT分散性的新方法。因此，本研究旨在研究纳米粘土血小板对SWCNTs掺杂环氧纳米复合材料的电，机械和压阻特性的影响。制备了两种不同类型的纳米复合材料用于比较，包括二元（SWCNT /环氧树脂）和杂化（SWCNT-纳米粘土/环氧树脂）状态。CNT含量为0.1 wt％时用于二元态和杂化态，而杂化纳米复合物中使用了两种不同的纳米粘土负载量（0.5 wt％和1.0 wt％）。使用两种探针技术对机械和机电特性进行了拉伸和模式I断裂测试，而将电子显微镜和X射线衍射用于微观结构分析。结果表明，在二元状态下严重的CNT团聚，而在三元状态下实现了均匀的CNT分散。由于严重的CNT聚集体，二元纳米复合材料在电，机械和压阻特性方面表现出较弱的性能。另一方面，与二元纳米复合材料相比，将纳米粘土添加到掺有碳纳米管的环氧树脂中，表明杂化纳米复合材料的电，机械和压阻敏感性性能显着提高。在0.5 wt％的纳米粘土负载下，电导率增加了六个数量级，从而获得了最佳性能，相对于二元纳米复合材料，_IC和G _IC分别增加了34％和64％。三元复合材料的断裂韧度增加是造成裂纹钉扎和裂纹变形的原因。由隧穿电阻的主要作用引起的非线性压阻决定了杂化纳米复合材料中的压阻。对于0.5重量％和1.0重量％的纳米粘土含量，分别在0.01的应变下获得了2.1和2.0的灵敏度，而对于二元复合材料没有获得灵敏度。