Modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) was used to measure the complex specific heat of the crystallization and melting transitions of nanocomposites of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) as function of CNT weight percent and temperature scan rate. In the last few years, great attention has been paid to the preparation of iPP/CNT nanocomposites due to their unique thermal and structural properties and potential applications. As the CNT content increases from 0 to 1 wt %, heterogeneous crystal nucleation scales with the CNT surface area. Above 1 wt %, nucleation appears to saturate with the crystallization temperature, reaching ∼8 K above that of the neat polymer. Heating scans reveal a complex, two‐step, melting process with a small specific heat peak, first observed ∼8 K below a much larger peak for the neat iPP. For iPP/CNT samples, these two features rapidly shift to higher temperatures with increasing ϕw and then plateau at ∼3 K above that in neat iPP for ϕw ≥ 1 wt %. Scan rates affect dramatically differently the neat iPP and its nanocomposites. Transition temperatures shift nonlinearly, while the total transition enthalpy diverges between cooling and heating cycles with decreasing scan rates. These results are interpreted as the CNTs acting as nucleation sites for iPP crystal formation, randomly pinning a crystal structure different than in the neat iPP and indicating complex transition dynamics. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013
We calculate the finite temperature three-point correlation function for primary fields in a 2D conformal field theory in momentum space. This result has applications to any strongly coupled field theory with a 2D CFT dual, as well as to Kerr/CFT.Comment: 6 page
The internal micro/nano-structure of anisotropically oriented polymer/CNTs composites determines their macroscopic properties. However, the connections between the two are not fully understood. The varying of CNT concentration, preparation method, and a thermodynamic parameter (e.g. temperature) can all play interconnected role. In this work, the macroscopic electrical conductivity was measured perpendicular to the film thickness of an insulating polymer (isotactic PolyPropylene, iPP) and a nano-composite of iPP with 5 weight percent of CNT. The thin films studied were sheared (anisotropically nano-structured) and non-sheared (with random internal structure). In general the effect of melt shearing induces anisotropy on the electrical transport properties of the iPP/CNT films in directions parallel and perpendicular to the direction of orientation. Our results show that for the pure iPP, resistivity slightly increases with shear at higher temperatures. When CNTs are introduced, there is a large difference between the resistivity of the sheared and non-sheared nanocomposite. The sheared PNCs when the CNTs are aligned parallel to each other, have higher resistivity, which is possibly due to the higher concentration at which the percolation threshold occurs in this arrangement. The resistivity decreases overall, as the temperature increases from 0 to 50 °C. These results show that CNTs can be used to control and fine tune the desired macroscopic physical properties of nanocomposites, by concentration and orientation, such as electrical conductivity, for applications where such properties are necessary.
Transport properties have been measured transverse to the plane of sheared and un-sheared thin-film nanocomposites of isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at various MWCNT concentrations. The sheared samples were processed in the melt at 200 0C at 1 Hz in a Linkan microscope shearing hot stage. The thermal and electrical conductivity measurements were performed on the same cell arrangement with the transport perpendicular to the thin-film plane using a DC method. The thermal and electrical conductivity perpendicular to the surface of the films are higher for the un-sheared as compared to the sheared samples. Interestingly, the percolation threshold appears smeared in both conductivity measurements likely due to pressing and shear treatment of the films, or the spacing between the data points. Important for electronics packaging and materials for which those anisotropic properties are highly desired this work presents important advances in understanding the structure-transport property relations.
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