RHEOLOGY, PROCESSING AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF CARBON NANOTUBE/POLY(ETHER ETHER KETONE) NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

The inhomogeneous dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) acts as the main hindrance for exploiting the exceptional properties associated with CNT in polymer/CNT composites. However, only few systematic studies clearly relate the structural features with the property profile of nanocomposites based on different nanotube grades. The aim of this study therefore was to process nanotube-based polymeric composites and to correlate their degree of dispersion with the resulting rheological (both shear and elongation) as well as electrical behavior. A range of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) reinforced high temperature semi-crystalline poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK) were prepared by melt compounding process. The composites with high degree of nanotube dispersion shows nearly five orders of magnitude increase in storage modulus and an abrupt increase of ten orders magnitude in electrical conductivity by adding only 2 wt% of nanotubes. Additionally, both the melt strength and the elongational viscosity can significantly increase by incorporating nanotubes. However, this increment effect strongly depends on the degree of dispersion of nanotubes in the polymer matrix. As highlighted by the experimental results, both the dispersion and interfacial interaction between the matrix and nanotubes are the key factors for improving the properties of such nanocomposites.