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Updated: May 20, 2026

Dispersion of Nanomaterials in Aqueous Media: Towards Protocol Optimization
Published on: December 25, 2017
Dispersion stability in carbon nanotube modified polymers and its effect on the fracture toughness
Vahid Mirjalili1, Mostafa Yourdkhani, Pascal Hubert
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6, Canada.
Abstract:
In this paper, the dispersion stability of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) mixed with an epoxy resin is studied. An instrumented optical microscope with a hot stage was used to study the evolution of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) dispersion during the cure of the resin. A new image processing approach is then introduced to quantify dispersion and identify the source of dispersion degradation during the cure. The results showed that the reduction of the resin viscosity at temperatures greater than 100 °C caused an irreversible re-agglomeration of the CNTs in the matrix. It was shown that the fine-tuning of the ratio and type of curing agent as well as the curing temperature directly affect the dispersion stability of MWNTs in the epoxy polymer. The dispersion quality was then directly correlated to the fracture toughness of the modified resin and a maximum of 20% improvement was achieved.
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