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Investigation of the effect of double‐walled carbon nanotubes on the curing reaction kinetics and shear flow of an epoxy resin
Author(s) -
El Sawi Ihab,
Olivier Philippe A.,
Demont Philippe,
Bougherara Habiba
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.36988
Subject(s) - epoxy , materials science , curing (chemistry) , composite material , rheology , kinetics , differential scanning calorimetry , carbon nanotube , shear rate , glass transition , shear thinning , nanocomposite , activation energy , polymer , chemistry , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , physics
In this article, the effect of combined temperature‐concentration and shear rate conditions on the rheology of double‐walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs)/RTM6‐Epoxy suspension was investigated to determine the optimum processing conditions. The rheological behavior and cure kinetics of this nanocomposite are presented. Cure kinetics analysis of the epoxy resin and the epoxy resin filled with DWCNTs was performed using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and parameters of the kinetics model were compared. The DWCNTs have an acceleration effect on the reaction rate of the epoxy resin but no significant effect is noted on the glass transition temperature of the epoxy resin. This study reveals that the effect of shear‐thinning is more pronounced at high temperatures when DWCNTs content is increased. In addition, the steady shear flow exhibits a thermally activated property above 60°C whereas the polymer fluid viscosity is influenced by the free volume and cooperative effects when the temperature is below 60°C. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012