The rheological modelling of carbon nanotube (CNT) suspensions in steady shear flows

This paper is concerned with the rheological modelling of both chemically treated and untreated carbon nanotube (CNT) suspended in a Newtonian epoxy resin. CNT suspensions generally exhibited shear-thinning characteristic—the apparent viscosity decreases as shear rate increases—when subject to steady shear flows. Chemically treated CNT suspensions with little optical microstructure were found to exhibit a less significant shear-thinning effect compared with untreated CNT suspensions where clear optical aggregates were observed. In the case of treated CNT suspensions, the shear-thinning characteristic could be described using a Fokker–Planck based orientation model. The model assumed that the treated CNTs behaved as high aspect ratio rods and that shear flow was able to align the CNTs in the flow direction, thereby resulting in a decrease in the shear viscosity. Despite the success in describing the rheological response of treated CNT in steady shear flows, the orientation model failed to explain the more pronounced shear-thinning effect observed in untreated CNT suspensions having a hierarchy of aggregate structures. A new model called the aggregation/orientation (AO) model was formulated by modifying the Fokker–Planck equation. The AO model considered elements of aggregation as well as CNT orientation and it was capable of capturing the steady shear response of untreated CNT suspensions.