  Epoxy nanocomposites able to meet pressing industrial requirements in the
field of structural material have been developed and characterized. Tunneling
Atomic Force Microscopy (TUNA), which is able to detect ultra-low currents
ranging from 80 fA to 120 pA, was used to correlate the local topography with
electrical properties of tetraglycidyl methylene dianiline (TGMDA) epoxy
nanocomposites at low concentration of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) ranging from
0.05% up to 2% by wt. The results show the unique capability of TUNA technique
in identifying conductive pathways in CNF/resins even without modifying the
morphology with usual treatments employed to create electrical contacts to the
ground.
