Periodical patterning of a fully tailored nanocarbon on CNT for fabrication of thermoplastic composites

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2018.01.015Get rights and content

Abstract

To overcome the weak interfacial bonding between carbon nanotubes (CNT) and the polymer and to achieve an effective load transfer in composites, surface modification of the filler is an elegant approach. In this study, surface modification of CNT was performed through developing a new morphology containing carbon nano particles periodically patterned on CNT; entitled cheetah skin CNT. Compared to pristine CNT, the use of cheetah skin-CNT resulted in an enhanced interfacial bonding with PE. Addition of only 2% CNT into PE matrix led to 35% and 51% increase in elastic modulus of composite containing pristine and cheetah skin CNT, respectively.

Introduction

Composites materials where two or more constituents are used to fabricate a new material gained considerable interests in industry and academia over the past decades. By combining inherent ductility and toughness of a polymeric matrix with high stiffness and high specific strength materials, such as ceramic filaments, carbon fibers or carbon nanotubes, it is possible to fabricate composite materials that can overcome performance issues with potential applications in nanoelectronics, structural and medical applications [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. The incorporation of such reinforcements into matrices significantly improves the hardness, tensile strength, elastic modulus and other mechanical properties [3], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]. High density polyethylene (HDPE) is a widely used polymer due to its excellent mechanical, physical and chemical properties [7], [19]. Due to the balance of mechanical performance and ease of process in addition to low cost, HDPE is used in various industries[20], [21] including automotive, aerospace and electronics [22]. Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) set a landmark by Iijima in 1991[23] for its remarkable structural and mechanical performance. Carbon Nanotubes, obtained from the bonding of carbon atoms to form graphene sheet, has unique properties of low mass density, high flexibility and large aspect ratio [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]. The exceptional properties of CNT make it a promising reinforcement for polyethylene to enhance physical and mechanical properties [7], [29]. There have been several reports on the use of CNT in HDPE matrix [30], [31], [32], [33], [34]; however, the main challenge of agglomeration of CNT during the manufacturing process of CNT/HDPE composite still remains [29]. It is well known that the homogeneous dispersion of CNT in polymeric matrix is required in order to transform the applied load effectively from CNT to HDPE to enhance the mechanical and physical properties of HDPE/CNT composites [29].

In order to overcome the challenges associated with the dispersion of CNT within matrix, several techniques have been used to obtain a homogenous dispersion of CNTs in composites [7], [30], [35], [36]. This includes use of shearing loads [37] and high energy sonication as well as surface treatment of CNT [2], [38], [39]. It has been shown that there is a significant improvement in thermal and mechanical properties of CNT-polymer composites when surface treatment approaches are used [40], [41]. Although the uniform and homogenous dispersion of CNTs in polymer is vital to obtain high performance composites but the orientation and interfacial bonding of polymer and CNT play an important role as well [42]. In this study, CNT with a novel cheetah skin morphology, through periodical patterning technique, was developed and used to reinforce HDPE based composites. The influence of using cheetah skin CNT on the structure and properties of composites was investigated and compared with use of pristine CNT filler.

Section snippets

Materials

Multiwalled carbon nanotube with outer diameter 20–30 nm, length 0.5–2 µm and purity >95% purchased from Arry Nano company (Germany). High-density polyethylene (HDPE) was supplied by Qenos Company, Australia. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (Sydney, Australia). N, N-Dimethyleformmamide (DMF) (≥99.8) solvent was purchased from LES, Deakin University (Australia).

Preparation of the cheetah skin CNT

Surface modification and periodical patterning of carbon nanotube are

Structural characterisation

To overcome the challenging issues associated with agglomeration of pristine CNT in polymer matrix, surface modification of CNT is often conducted as a practical approach. Fig. 2 shows SEM images of samples, revealing the microstructural characteristics of cheetah skin CNT and pristine CNT after carbonization process. It is observed that the first step in formation of CNT/PAN/PMMA structure involves the tubular coating of PAN/PMMA on CNT surface. In this structure, PMMA works as a matrix for

Conclusions

In summary, this research demonstrates the periodical patterning of carbon nano particles on CNT template and confinement of the CNP molecules in interphase structure surrounding the CNTs. The change in mechanical and physical performance of HDPE based composites reinforced by pristine and cheetah skin CNT was investigated. It was found that due to the selectively localized nano carbon onto its surface, cheetah skin CNT form a better interfacial bonding with HDPE when compared to pristine CNT;

Acknowledgments

Deakin University PhD scholarship awarded to the first author is acknowledged. Authors would like to thank Deakin University’s Advanced Characterisation team for use of the Electron microscopy facility and in particular assistance from Rosey Squire and Andrew Sullivan. We are grateful to Qenos Company for supplying HDPE used in this study.

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