Study on preparation and properties of carbon nanotubes/rubber composites

摘要

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted a great deal ofninterest since their discovery in 1991 [1]. CNTs are newtypencarbon materials with excellent electrical propertiesn[2], high strength [3–6], heat conductivity [7, 8], etc. Recentnresearches suggest that CNTs hold promise as a possiblenreinforcing phase in preparation of novel polymericncomposites [9–12]. Furthermore, the CNTs/polymer compositesnmay exploit many advantages possessed by CNTs,nsuch as excellent thermal stability, thermal and electricalnconductivity, etc. A few studies have described the fabricationnand properties of CNTs/polymer nanocompositesn[10–13]. All the present researches illustrated that thendispersion of CNTs in polymer matrix and the interfacialninteraction between CNTs and polymer were two criticalnfactors to effect the comprehensive performances of composites,nwhich are two key problems to solve because ofnthe extremely inactive surface, nano-scaled diameter andnhigh aspect ratio of CNTs. Therefore, in order to exhibitntheir potentials, the resolution of these two problems is thenrequirement. Although preparations of CNTs/resin compositesnhave been widely reported, study on CNTs/rubberncomposites is hardly reported. However, CNTs filled rubberncomposites with high elasticity of rubber should benable to find very extensive applications in many fields, justnlike what conductive rubber composites filled with carbonnfiber and carbon black do [14–16]. In the work describednin this paper, for the first time, CNTs/rubber compositesnwere studied.