Page 25 - Carbon Nanotube Fibres and Yarns

18 Carbon Nanotube Fibers and Yarns

Fig. 2.3 Self-entanglement mechanism for continuous pulling of carbon nanotube
bundles. The CNT array consists of crossing over and branched CNT bundles. (A) The
bundle is first pulled out and detached from other bundles. (B) Cleaving of the front
branched bundles and shifting of the crossing over structure. (C) Self-entanglement
happens. (D) The twisting bundles entwine nearby branched bundles together to
form an entangled structure. (E) The entangled structures pull out more bundles and
the connection between the extracted bundles becomes firmer upon further pulling.
(F) A similar entangled structure is formed on the top surface region [17]. (Reprinted
with permission from C. Zhu, C. Cheng, Y.H. He, L. Wang, T.L. Wong, K.K. Fung, et al., A
self-entanglement mechanism for continuous pulling of carbon nanotube yarns, Carbon
49 (2011) 4996–5001.)