MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS OF NANOTUBE SUSPENSIONS AND COMPOSITES

R. D. Morris, D. Anez, S. French, V. L. Sobolev and M. Foygel
Physics Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, US

Keywords: Monte-Carlo, simulations, carbon nanotubes, suspensions, percolation

Abstract:
A Monte Carlo simulation code has been developed aimed at finding a critical fractional volume of the nanotubes suspended in a low thermo- or electro-conductive medium. Over more than two orders of magnitude, the critical fractional volume is found to be approximately inversely proportional to the aspect ratio. For the randomly oriented tubes with high aspect ratio, this dependence can be justified in the context of the excluded volume arguments and of the excluded surface /random contact model. Contrary to previous suggestions, the percolation theory can account for the surprisingly low percolation threshold recently observed in carbon nanotubes suspensions and composites.

NSTI Nanotech 2003 Conference Technical Program Abstract