Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are long, thin cylinders of carbon. Intrinsic van der Waals attraction among CNTs often leads to significant agglomeration. Many research showed that the homogeneity of the composite is a critical point for the mechanical and electrical properties of the nanocomposite.In this contribution, Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and Poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) resin has been compounded with carbon nanotubes. Two kinds of coupling agents were introduced to promote the distribution of carbon nanotubes in the polyester matrix. Scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the microstructure of the composites. The results showing that it was highly efficient to use a special coupling agent to disaggregate and improve the dispersion of CNTs. We also detected the electrical performance of the composites. The volume resistance of the composites decreased from 10E14Ω•cm to 10E1Ω•cm with the addition of CNTs which related to the interface and the microstructure of the composites. The thermal stability of the composites was detected by TGA.