Chitosan Grafted Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Vinyl Ester/UPE Blend Based Partially Bio-Nanocomposite

摘要

This work represents the preparation and characterization of some unique properties of vinyl ester (VE) and unsaturated polyester (UPE) blend based nanocomposites by introducing biopolymer chitosan grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Initially, surface grafting of MWCNTs with chitosan was performed by utilizing glutaraldehyde as a cross linking reagent through covalent deposition method and are successfully characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTER.) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). Then 50:50 wt % of vinyl ester and unsaturated polyester blend was prepared by simple sonication method. Three different specimens of VE/UPE/CS-g-MWCNTs nanocomposites were fabricated with addition of 1, 3 and 5 wt % of functionalized bionanofiller. Chitosan grafting of MWCNTs offered enhanced properties to the nanocomposites suggesting homogeneous distribution of the nanofiller in the matrix with minimum corrosion and swelling properties. 3 wt % of functionalized bionanofiller loading showed superior essential characteristics and after that the properties reduced may be due to the nucleating tendency of the nanofiller particles.