Effect of nodal density in three-dimensional cellular structure of CNT- polymer on mechanical and viscoelastic properties

Cellular foams are high on demand due to their viscoelastic nature applicable for diverse engineering and bio-medical fields. Among the wide range of engineered cellular foams, carbon nanotube (CNT) cellular structure has been extensively used as nano-scale building block at macroscopic scale for their extraordinary mechanical strength, flexibility along with high electrical, thermal and viscoelastic properties. We designed and fabricated a novel CNT-polymer based porous architecture that demonstrated a unique microstructure dependent mechanical and viscoelastic properties. Controlled nodal density in the CNT architecture has shown a great dependence on viscoelasticity characteristics of the foam. Higher nodal density resulted in an increase in mechanical properties e.g. peak stress, energy absorption, rate of deformation. An optimum nodal density induces highest degree of viscoelasticity and beyond that it reduces due to agglomeration in CNT attributed to the van der Waals force. A systematic compressive behaviour is evaluated to elucidate the controlled stiffness and viscoelasticity of the cellular structure.
Keywords: Mechanical, CNT-Microstructure; Viscoelastic; Cellular structure; Nodal density