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Polymer 47 (2006) 1763–1766 /locate/polymer Polymer Communication Fabrication and distribution characteristics of polyurethane/single-walled carbon nanotube composite with anisotropic structure Jiawen Xiong, Dongsheng Zhou, Zhen Zheng, Xiaohui Yang, Xinling Wang * Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China Received 14 October 2005; received in revised form 23 January 2006; accepted 24 January 2006 Abstract A polyurethane/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composite with anisotropic structure is synthesized by two-step process. The effects of external force during the curing process of the composite as well as the tensile stress on the distribution of the SWCNTs in the matrix have been examined by using field-emission scanning electron microscope. The microstructure analysis results indicate that the different distributions of the SWCNTs in the matrix have appeared along two orthogonal directions for the composite samples. q 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Anisotropic structure; Carbon nanotubes; Polymer composite materials 1. Introduction For high performance polymer/CNT composite, it is crucial that CNTs are rearranged in polymer matrices [19–21]. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess unique structure. With In this paper, a polyurethane/single-walled carbon nanotube excellent mechanical and thermal properties [1–4], they are (SWCNT) composite with anisotro