Contents
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................iii
Contents...................................................................................................................iv
List of Figures............................................................................................................vi
List OfTabIes............................................................................................................viii
Introduction...............................................................................................................1
1.1. Introduction to Carbon Nanotubes......................................................................1
1.2. Techniques in Carbon Nanotube Synthesis.........................................................3
1.2.1. Early Carbon Nanotube Synthesis Methods.................................................3
1.2.2. Chemical Vapor Deposition to Produce Aligned CNTs.................................5
1.3. Carbon Nanotubes for Composite Applications..................................................7
1.3.1. Challenges in Preparing Randomly-Aligned Nanocomposites......................7
1.3.2. Self-Assembly of CNTs to Achieve Composite Homogeneity.......................9
1.4. Research Motivations.........................................................................................10
Synthesizing Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays for Composite Applications...............12
2.1. Pre-Deposited Catalyst CVD...............................................................................13
2.1.1. Introduction to Pre-Deposited CVD Growth...............................................13
2.1.2. Construction of a Water-Assisted A-CNT Growth Furnace.........................14
2.1.3. A-CNTs Grown Via Pre-Deposited Catalyst CVD.........................................19
2.2. Vapor-Phase CVD...............................................................................................22
2.2.1. Introduction to Vapor-Phase CVD Growth.................................................22
2.2.2. Construction of a Vapor-Phase A-CNT Growth Furnace.............................23
2.2.3. A-CNTs Grown via Vapor-Phase CVD..........................................................29
2.3. Comparison of A-CNTs for Infiltrated Composite Applications.........................33
Vertically-Aligned Carbon Nanotube/ Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Composites................35
3.1. Introduction to Poly(dimethylsiloxane).............................................................36
3.2. Composite Preparation......................................................................................37
3.2.1. Results from Pre-Deposited Catalyst A-CNT Infiltration.............................38
3.2.2. Results from Vapor-Phase A-CNT Infiltration.............................................39