  Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)-polymer composites are promising candidates for a
myriad of applications. Ad-hoc CNTs-polymer composite fabrication techniques
inherently pose roadblock to optimized processing resulting in microstructural
defects i.e., void formation, poor interfacial adhesion, wettability, and
agglomeration of CNTs inside the polymer matrix. Although improvement in the
microstructures can be achieved via additional processing steps such
as-mechanical methods and/or chemical functionalization, the resulting
composites are somewhat limited in structural and functional performances.
Here, we demonstrate that 3D printing technique like-direct ink writing offers
improved processing of CNTs-polymer composites. The shear-induced flow of an
engineered nanocomposite ink through the micronozzle offers some benefits
including reducing the number of voids within the epoxy, improving CNTs
dispersion and adhesion with epoxy, and partially aligns the CNTs. Such
microstructural changes result in superior mechanical performance and heat
transfer in the composites compared to their mold-casted counterparts. This
work demonstrates the advantages of 3D printing over traditional fabrication
methods, beyond the ability to rapidly fabricate complex architectures, to
achieve improved processing dynamics for fabricating CNT-polymer nanocomposites
with better structural and functional properties.
