Natural rubber nanocomposites with functionalized carbon nanotubes: Mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and morphology studies

Abstract

Recent attempts toward improving the properties of natural rubber (NR) by using carbon nanotubes (CNT) as filler were not successful due to low dispersion of CNT in NR. This article reports the results of studies on improvement of dispersion of CNT in NR by acid modification of CNT surface. Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed the presence of COOH groups on the CNT surface. On the basis of results of studies on using differential scanning calorimetry, universal testing machine, dynamic mechanical tester, thermogravimetric analysis, electrical properties, and transmission electron microscopy, it is concluded that acid modification of CNT leads to improvement in thermal stability, stress-strain, and dynamic mechanical properties. V C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 125: E76-E84, 2012

Microstructure, mechanical, and rheological properties of natural rubber/ethylene propylene diene monomer nanocomposites reinforced by multi‐wall carbon nanotubes

“…Figure shows the tensile modulus M300 (modulus at 300% elongation) of nanocomposites which increased proportionally with nanotube loading. This observation indicates that the presence of MWCNT results in the increasing stiffness of rubber macromolecular chain .…”

“…This trend previously observed indicates a good dispersion of MWCNTs in the blend. In the case of f‐MWCNT, the presence of the functionalized carbon nanotubes enhances dispersion and causes the interactions of polymer/nanofiller, therefore the tensile strength has increased . The nanocomposites containing compatibilizer show the highest tensile strength than samples without EPDM‐ g ‐MAH.…”

“…This raising is originated from existence of compatibilizer EPDM-g-MAH in NR/EPDM nanocomposites [25,33]. Figures 7b and 8b illustrate that with increasing of MWCNT loading, stiffness and brittleness of nanocomposite increase and create a gradual reduction in elongation at break value [18,21,32]. So that, according to the above, along with increasing trend tensile strength, elongation at break decreased.…”

Curing enhancement and network effects in multi‐walled carbon nanotube‐filled vulcanized natural rubber: evidence for solvent sensing

“…In addition to diffusivity, the solvent penetration depends on the sorption behaviour of the material, and this is defined by the sorption coefficient S = M α / M 0 , where M α is the mass of the solvent taken up at equilibrium swelling and M 0 is the initial mass of the composite sample . The local mobility of the polymer after vulcanization gets restricted by reinforcement of nanoscale MWCNTs due to strong filler–polymer interactions and thus the solvent transport in such crosslinked systems becomes tortuous and this leads to poorer sorption behaviour . The permeation coefficient P = DS gives the amount of solvent permeated through unit area of the sample per second.…”

The friction and wear properties of carbon nanotubes/graphite/carbon fabric reinforced phenolic polymer composites

“…[1][2][3][4][5] When the polymer matrix must withstand high mechanical and tribological load, it is usually reinforced with various fillers, such as clay, [6] carbon nanotubes (CNTs), [7] mesoporous silica, [8] grapheme, [9] fibers, [10] or inorganic nanoparticles. [11,12] Among these reinforcing elements, fiberbased fabrics are very unique and outstanding because of their high structure ordering and tightness.…”