Peel test of spinnable carbon nanotube webs

• Peel tests of carbon nanotube webs have been conducted.
• Van der Waals energy between carbon nanotubes has been measured.
• The effect of nanotube orientation on Van der Waals energy has been determined.
• Experimental result validity is established by analytical calculations from literature.
• It is shown that energy for crossed nanotubes is lower than that for parallel nanotubes.

This paper presents results of peel tests with spinnable carbon nanotube webs. Peel tests were performed to study the effect of orientation angles on interface energies between nanotubes. In absence of any binding agent the interface energy represents the Van Der Waals energies between the interacting nanotubes. Therefore, the effect of the orientations on Van Der Waals energies between carbon nanotubes is obtained through the peel test. It is shown that the energy for crossed nanotubes at 90° angle is lower than the energy for parallel nanotubes at 0° angle. This experimental observation was validated by hypothetical theoretical calculations.