Influence of Carbon Nanofibers Reinforcement on Thermal and Electrical Behavior of Polysulfone Nanocomposites

摘要

Carbon nanofiber (CNF) based polysulfone (PSU) nanocomposites have been developed successfully by a innovative solution mixing technique to explore the effect of state of dispersion and wt% loading of CNFs on different properties of PSU. In order to enhance the interfacial adhesion between CNFs and PSU, CNFs were functionalized by air oxidation. Thermal properties were characterized by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and it was seen that thermal stability of PSU was increased with increase in CNFs loading. The state of dispersion of CNFs throughout the PSU matrix and PSU-CNFs interaction were confirmed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) study. The electrical properties of nanocomposites were studied from direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) resistivity measurement. DC resistivity registered a very low percolation threshold in-between 0.5-1 wt% of CNFs loading. DC resistivity of PSU was decreased by nine orders of magnitude with the addition of 1 wt% CNFs loading. Dielectric constant and dissipation factor of nanocomposites were significantly increased with increase in CNFs content in nanocomposites. The enhancement in these properties suggests a great potential application of the resulting nanocomposites as multifunctional materials in various electronics industries.