Abstract
We report an approach of flake powder metallurgy to the uniform, two-dimensional (2D)distribution of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in Cu flake powders. It consists of thepreparation of Cu flakes by ball milling in an imidazoline derivative (IMD) aqueoussolution, surface modification of Cu flakes with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrosoland adsorption of CNTs from a CNT aqueous suspension. During ball milling, ahydrophobic monolayer of IMD is adsorbed on the surface of the Cu flakes, on top ofwhich a hydrophilic PVA film is adsorbed subsequently. This PVA film couldfurther interact with the carboxyl-group functionalized CNTs and act to lock theCNTs onto the surfaces of the Cu flakes. The CNT volume fraction is controlledeasily by adjusting the concentration/volume of CNT aqueous suspension and Cuflake thickness. The as-prepared CNT/Cu composite flakes will serve as suitablebuilding blocks for the self-assembly of CNT/Cu laminated composites that enablethe full potential of 2D distributed CNTs to achieve high thermal conductivity.
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