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Processing of Poly(propylene)/Carbon Nanotube Composites using scCO 2 ‐Assisted Mixing
Author(s) -
Ma Jia,
Deng Hua,
Peijs Ton
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.200900405
Subject(s) - materials science , compounding , carbon nanotube , nanocomposite , composite material , mixing (physics) , dispersion (optics) , nanotube , coating , physics , quantum mechanics , optics
Abstract scCO 2 was used to assist in the preparation of PP/CNT composites. Two types of CNTs were used: MWNTs with and without HDPE coating (cMWNTs). The morphology of the nanocomposites and their mechanical and thermal properties were investigated and compared with samples made by traditional melt compounding. The use of cMWNT leads to better dispersion and properties in melt‐compounded nanocomposites. For systems prepared using scCO 2 ‐assisted mixing, however, better properties were obtained using pristine MWNTs, avoiding the additional costs of nanotube modification. It was also shown that observed improvements in the mechanical properties for these materials were due to a combination of matrix modification and nanotube reinforcement, rather than a reinforcement effect caused solely by MWNTs.