Development of electrically conductive and anisotropic gel-coat systems using CNTs

Electrical conductivity of an unsaturated thermoset polyester based gel-coat system containing 0.05 wt.% of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was investigated. The CNTs used were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition method by methane decomposition and Raman characterization showed that they were mostly single walled and high quality. To disperse CNTs in the gel-coat resin, 3-roll milling technique was used. It was found that as the CNTs are added to gel-coat system, resistivity value decreases significantly while neat gel-coat showed a high resistivity. By the application of an AC electrical field during curing process, it was attempted to align CNTs in the gel-coat resin and an electrically anisotropic polymer was obtained.