Electronic transport in carbon nanotube tangles under compression: The role of contact resistance

We proposed to evaluate the contact resistance between carbon nanotubes from bulk measurement on their tangle. Compression tests with simultaneous measurement of the ohmic resistance were performed on carbon nanotube tangles. The experimental data were analyzed using a contact network model to get an estimate of the contact resistance between carbon nanotubes. It was found that in some cases the contact resistance decreased by up to one order of magnitude and reached values in the order of 100 k Omega. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.