Integration of carbon nanotubes into adhesives

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have received much interest in several fields. In comparison to other conventional carbon fillers they show remarkable mechanical and electrical properties. An introducing of carbon nanotubes into adhesives, therefore, should improve mechanical and electrical properties of the adhesives. Such composites can be used to achieve an improved cohesion for adhesive bonding of metals, glass, plastics, and textiles. In this study the authors dispersed multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into epoxy resins and polyolefines. By this it was aimed to improve the properties of the entire system. It could be demonstrated that it is possible to integrate carbon nanotubes in different kind of adhesives, like epoxy and thermoplastic based materials. Whereas incorporation in polyolefine hot melts was done using melt mixing the addition into epoxies was performed by mixing in the hardener or the resin. Both methods led to acceptable degrees of dispersion resulting in achieving significant increase in electrical conductivity already at quite low loadings of about 1 wt-%. Thus, the integration of carbon nanotubes improves the electrical properties of adhesives which allow their use also in connection with antistatic or conductive applications.