Conditions for Obtaining High-Modulus Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites

We consider physical foundations for the realization of high-modulus and high-strength polymer/carbon nanotube nanocomposites with mechanical characteristics comparable with those for steel. We have determined two main factors that make it possible to obtain such nanocomposites, i.e., the structure of the nanofiller in the polymer matrix and a quite high concentration of the nanofiller. The fractal dimension of such a structure must be close to that of the surrounding Euclidian space (i.e., 3). It is shown that additional stretching of the nanocomposite gives two positive effects: the reduction of waviness of carbon nanotubes and the increase of the elastic modulus of the polymer matrix due to alignment of its macromolecules.