Abstract
Loose multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were processed into a bundle of 19,600 individual channels with an individual channel diameter of 0.4 micron using a fiber drawing process. First, a powder of sodium silicate solution containing purified MWNT was created. A glass capillary tube was filled with the powder and drawn into fiber. The fibers were cut into segments, bundled and redrawn multiple times to create fibers with multiple channels containing MWNT. This processing approach created thousands of uniformly ordered channels containing dispersed MWNT in a glass matrix while simultaneously aligning the MWNT. The bulk resistivity of the CNT-silicate channel has been improved by 38 percent after two consecutive draws as a result of increased CNT fraction.
