The interfacial effect between an organic matrix and inorganic nanofillers on the thermal conductivity of a polymer composite was systematically explored by assembling amine-functionalized boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) onto an electrospun polyacrylic acid/polyvinyl alcohol nanofibrous web through either physical electrostatic interactions or chemical coupling reactions. The amine functionalization of BNNTs and their integration onto the electrospun nanofiber webs were confirmed by various analytical techniques. No distinctive change in thermal stability and conductivity could be observed between the pristine-and physically assembled polymeric nanofiber films; however, the chemically assembled nanofiber film produced via the chemical coupling reaction showed large improvements in both thermal stability and thermal conductivity. Our study demonstrated that it is possible to produce a highly thermally conductive polymer nanofiber film through interfacial engineering, even if the incorporation of inorganic filler is below 1 wt%.
This study investigated differences in the thermo-mechanical properties of thermosetting polymer EPON 826 nanocomposites reinforced by modified nanofillers. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were modified by environmentally friendly plasma treatments. Composites containing various nitrogen doped CNTs were investigated by morphological and structural analysis, which confirmed that they provided better dispersion and stronger interfacial interaction with the epoxy matrix. In addition, the dynamic mechanical behavior and thermal conductivity were analyzed to understand the energy transfer mechanism in the nanocomposites. The thermal and mechanical properties of the Inductively coupled plasma treated CNTs (ICP-CNT) reinforced nanocomposites containing a high concentration of quaternary and pyridinic types were higher than that of mechanical shear force plasma treated CNTs (MSF-CNT). A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed to support the experimental results and confirmed that controlling the type of nitrogen doping groups was important for improving the thermo-mechanical characteristics of CNT/epoxy nanocomposites.
In this study, the influences of the carboxyl functionalization of intercalators on exfoliation of graphite oxide were analyzed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.
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