Multifunctional Polymer Nanocomposites Based on Thermoplastic Polyesters

Abstract

Polymer nanocomposites containing carbon nanoparticles have exhibited remarkable thermal, mechanical and electrical properties. This review is concerned with a narrow sector of polymer nanocomposites, namely those based on engineering polyesters, which are of great industrial interest. The various functionalization methods of modifying carbon nanotubes and graphene derivative forms to allow interacting with polymer matrices will be summarized. Moreover, the review on the processing techniques of obtaining polymer nanocomposites with the emphasis of their efect on the inal properties of the obtained material will be highlighted. The light will be also shed on the nanoiller dispersion in the polymer matrix. Finally, the opportunities and challenges in the high-performance polymer nanocomposites will be presented.Keywords: polymer nanocomposites, thermoplastic polyesters, carbon nanoparticles . IntroductionEngineering polyesters, such as poly ethylene terephthalate PET and poly butylene terephthalate P"T , constitute a group of engineering thermoplastics. However, this group is now expanded by new members of the polyester family, that is, poly trimethylene terephthalate PTT and poly ethylene-2, 6-naphthalate PEN . They combine excellent mechanical, electrical and thermal properties with very good chemical resistance and dimensional stability. Moreover, with excellent processing characteristics and high strength and rigidity, they are widely used in industrial applications. However, still at a commercial level the aforesaid properties, one can further improve through an addition of suitable modifying agents such as nanoillers. There is a wide array of organic and inorganic nanoillers © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. some of which have been studied more thoroughly than others. "n addition of carbon nanoillers CNF such as carbon nanotubes CNT and graphene derivative forms GDF may seem particularly interesting from the point of view of their inluence on the enhancement of a wide array of material characteristics.The properties of polymer nanocomposites that can be improved due to the presence of carbon nanoparticles CNP , such as carbon nanotubes single-and multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene derivatives graphene, expanded graphite, graphene oxide, etc. , include tensile strength, tensile modulus, toughness, thermal properties, electrical and thermal conductivity, optical and barrier properties. However, the aforementioned properties one can obtain only w...