Fluorinated single wall nanotube/polyethylene composites for multifunctional radiation protection

摘要

Fluorinated Single Wall Nanotubes (f-SWNTs) have been processed in polyethylene by an incipient wetting technique to achieve a well dispersed nanocomposite for radiation protection.In some cases,samples were further processed using the rapid prototyping method of extrusion freeform fabrication.Composites were exposed to 40 MeV proton radiation with a flux of about 1.7X10~7 protons/cm~2/sec to a total fluence of 3X10~(10) protons/cm~2.This exposure is consistent with a long-term space mission in low earth orbit.The samples were evaluated by means of Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).These results were compared to the unexposed composite and unfilled polymer samples.This study has focused on the stability of the nanotube composites when exposed to radiation and prior to hydrogen exposure.It was shown that the stability of the functional group is not constant with SWNTs produced by different processes and that radiation exposure is capable of defluorinating SWNTs in polyethylene.