The ball milling with various rotation speeds assisted to dispersion of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The study of nanofluids has lately gained scientific interest, due to their enhanced thermal conductivity, which would significantly improve the performance of heat transfer equipment. This study were focus on the comparative study on the dry and wet grinding at several variations of rotation speeds, dispersion characteristics (with surfactants and without surfactants) of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with four rotation speeds-200 rpm, 300 rpm, 400 rpm and 500 rpm. The first segment of experiment (the dry and wet grinding of MWCNTs) was carried out by using a planetary ball mill at different rotation speeds: 200 rpm, 300 rpm, 400 rpm, and 500 rpm. In second experiment, the dry and wet grinding at several rotation speeds and purified MWCNTs were dispersed in aqueous with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and without any surfactants solutions in ultrasonication. The results were monitored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), particle sizing analysis (PSA) and a UV-visible spectrophotometer. The results demonstrate the dispersion quality of MWCNTs suspension prepared by wet grinding assisted ultrasonication with surfactant is much better than that by only ultrasonication or dry and wet grinding alone.