Shear enhancement of mechanical and microstructural properties of synthetic graphite and ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene carbon composites

Abstract

Ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has a variety of industrial and clinical applications due to its superb mechanical properties including ductility, tensile strength, and work‐to‐failure. The versatility of UHMWPE is hindered by the difficulty in processing the polymer into a well consolidated material. This study presents on the effects of shear imparted by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) on UHMWPE composites containing Nano27 Synthetic Graphite (N27SG). Ductility and work‐to‐failure improvements up to ~60–80% are obtained in sheared N27SG‐UHMWPE composites as compared to non‐sheared N27SG‐UHMWPE controls of the same composition. Microscopy reveals increased fusion at particle boundaries and smaller voids in the sheared materials. Micro‐computed tomography results indicate different distribution of N27SG particulates in ECAP samples as compared to CM indicating enhanced grain boundary interactions. Tradeoffs are not avoided as ECAP samples were lower in conductivity as compared to compression molded (CM) billets of the same weight percent. However, ECAP samples were able to be doped with more N27SG allowing for an ~170% increase in conductivity over CM samples of the same work‐to‐failure. This work shows that ECAP is a viable processing method for obtaining stronger, more ductile conductive composite materials.

Irradiation Behavior of Analgesic and Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug-Loaded UHMWPE for Joint Replacement

“…We also previously hypothesized that vancomycin, an antibiotic incorporated in UHMWPE was grafted onto the polymer using gamma irradiation, which reduced bacterial colonization on the implant surface . Other additives for UHMWPE, including carbon nanotubes, graphene and graphite, metal oxides, alumina and silica ceramics , and hyaluronic acid , were proposed to enhance various properties, such as lubrication, wear resistance, toughness and handling properties . In these cases, the low interaction between the UHMWPE polymeric matrix and the additives resulted in a multiphase morphology with adverse effects on the overall material properties.…”

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Severely Deformed Polypropylene in ECAE (Equal Channel Angular Extrusion) via Routes A and C

“…Experimentally, the ECAE effectiveness in altering the morphology and the mechanical properties was reported in the literature for a variety of semi-crystalline and glassy amorphous polymers, such as polycarbonate [ 1 , 6 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], polymethylmethacrylate [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], low-density polyethylene [ 15 , 16 ], high-density polyethylene [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], polyoxymethylene [ 18 ], polypropylene (PP) [ 17 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], polyamide-6 [ 16 , 19 , 30 , 31 ], polyethylene terephthalate [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene [ 36 ], acrylonitrile butadiene styrene [ 35 ], polytetrafluoroethylene [ 16 , 18 , 19 ], polylactide [ 37 , 38 ], fiber-reinforced polyacetal composites [ 39 ], polyamide-6-clay nanocomposites [ 30 , 40 , 41 ] and graphite-carbon-reinforced ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites [ 42 , 43 ]. The reader may ...…”