A quantitative method for analyzing the dispersion and agglomeration of nano-particles in composite materials Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The distribution of particles (e.g. micro and nanoinclusions, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers) within a composite material plays a vital role in dictating many important constitutive properties. In this study, a general method to quantify the dispersion and agglomeration of nano-particles in composite materials has been developed. The dispersion quantity, D, is measured by the free-path spacing between particles; whereas, the agglomeration quantity, A, is measured by the particle size. In both cases, a quantifiable percentage is calculated based on the statistical probability that either the free-path spacing or particle size falls within a certain percentage above and below , where is either the mean spacing or particle size. The proposed method is used to quantify the dispersion and agglomeration of both carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within aqueous solutions. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • Composites Part B Engineering

altmetric score

  • 6

author list (cited authors)

  • Tyson, B. M., Abu Al-Rub, R. K., Yazdanbakhsh, A., & Grasley, Z.

citation count

  • 60

complete list of authors

  • Tyson, Bryan M||Abu Al-Rub, Rashid K||Yazdanbakhsh, Ardavan||Grasley, Zachary

publication date

  • January 2011