Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) was prepared by condensation reaction of butyral with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in aqueous phase containing an acid as a catalyst and an emulsifying agent. Properties of the polymer were a function of the relative amounts of the three randomly distributed units of acetal, acetate and vinyl alcohol groups, and the molecular weight. In this work, some effective factors in synthesis of PVB have been investigated by Taguchi method. The percent of the acetalization has been determined according to the ASTM D1396, and the polymer was characterized by IR, TG, and DTG techniques.
In this study, to investigate the effect of functionalized carbon nanotubes on the thermal and mechanical properties of the poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) resin, PVB/functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube (f-SWCNT) composites were fabricated by a solution casting method. The functionalized nanotubes were prepared by acid treatment. The formation of oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the nanotubes was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. SEM analysis also showed that the nanotubes were dispersed well in the PVB matrix. The thermal stability of the composites were investigated with thermogravimetric analysis, and the results show better stability for PVB in the presence of a very low content of the f-SWCNTs. The prepared composites exhibited a significant increase in the temperature of degradation at 50 wt % loss and also in the onset temperature and decomposition temperature at the maximum rate of weight loss of butyral degradation. A significant enhancement in the mechanical properties was also achieved for these prepared composites.
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