Quantification of carbon nanotube distribution and property correlation in nanocomposites

Quantification of the quality of distribution is essential in carbon nanotube (CNT) composites since it reflects the homogeneity of the properties. In this work, an attempt is made to quantify the quality of distribution of carbon nanotubes in a metal matrix composite by two methods. Two parameters have been proposed which are complimentary. The first one called Dispersion Parameter (DP) is based on the image analysis technique and is obtained based on the size of CNT cluster while the second one, named the Clustering Parameter (CP) is based on distances between centers of the nanotubes obtained by Delaunay triangulation. The method is applied to compare the level of distribution of nanotubes in three micrographs of CNT reinforced aluminum composite fabricated by cold spraying. A comparison between two quantification techniques is made. Carbon nanotube distribution obtained by image analysis technique is successfully utilized to correlate and account for experimentally obtained elastic modulus values of the nanocomposite by nanoindentation.