The discovery of single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) gives an important boost to nanomaterial research. Since the nanotubes have exceptional mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, they are considered very promising reinforcement materials for developing high performance nanocomposites. One of the effective methods for fabricating nanotube composites is to make nanotubes into buckypaper form (Nanotube Buckypaper). The nanotubes are pre-formed into buckypaper of well-dispersed tube network, so as to control tube dispersion and loading as well as microstructures in the resulting composites. In this research, we characterized the quality of buckypaper with different fabricating parameter combinations, and performed statistical analysis on the quality of the produced buckypapers. A statistical model of the nanotube buckypaper process was developed to investigate the contribution of fabricating parameters, including suspension concentration, sonication level and time, filtration vacuum pressure, and surfactant types on nanotube bundle quality as measured by rope size and pore size. Statistical modeling is also used to estimate the variability associated with manufacturing, the image taken, and the measurement processes. The statistical analysis shows that all the selected factors are influential to the quality of buckypaper, and the interactions between these factors contribute more than the factors themselves. Overall, the selection of surfactant is crucial to the formation of a uniform tube rope network of nanotube buckypaper in both average performance and variability. The microscopy characterization of the nanotube buckypaper samples, designed experiment, and variance components analysis all provide strong evidence that Triton X-100 is the best surfactant in terms of better dispersion effect, higher repeatability and less variability in producing nanotube buckypapers. Therefore, the process of fabricating buckypaper with Triton X-100 is suggested to construct a reliable and repeatable model of nanotube buckypaper process, and the model can be further used to optimize operating parameters and predict the quality of nanotube buckypapers. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Industrial Engineering in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: July 6, 2004. / Buckypaper, Design of Experiment, Nanotube / Includes bibliographical references. / Zhiyong Liang, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; James R. Simpson, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Ben Wang, Committee Member; Chuck Zhang, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168562 |
| Contributors | Yeh, Cherng-Shii (authoraut), Liang, Zhiyong (professor co-directing thesis), Simpson, James R. (professor co-directing thesis), Wang, Ben (committee member), Zhang, Chuck (committee member), Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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