Research Status of Carbon Nanotube Fibers and Films Densification

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) exhibit good mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, and thus with wide application prospects, therefore, attracted wide attention are received from scholars of various countries. CNT fibers and films, composed by CNT bundles, are the main application forms of CNTs in macroscopic scale. However, the performance of CNT fibers and films are far lower than that of single CNT, which is mainly owing to their low density. The main approach for strengthening CNT fibers and films is to improve their density. The progress of CNT fiber and film densification researches in recent years was summarized in this article, and the related theoretical basis of the densification was concluded. The influence of different densification processes on their microstructure was discussed, and the tensile properties and electrical properties were compared. Based on current research situation, the shortage was also pointed out in this article, and the process combining the drawing and rolling was considered to be the effective method for CNT fibers and films strengthening.