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Polyvinyl butyral‐based composites with carbon nanotubes: Efficient dispersion as a key to high mechanical properties
Author(s) -
Lavagna Luca,
Marchisio Silvia,
Merlo Alessandra,
Nisticò Roberto,
Pavese Matteo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.25661
Subject(s) - polyvinyl butyral , materials science , carbon nanotube , dispersion (optics) , composite material , agglomerate , composite number , sonication , casting , phase (matter) , polymer , chemical engineering , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , optics , engineering
Even if the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their derivatives are commonly used as reinforcing phase in composite materials, also in commercial products, their tendency to agglomerate generally determines a scarce dispersion, thus not maximizing the effect due to the second phase. In this article, a perfect dispersion of highly entangled nanotubes was achieved by using a very simple approach: exploiting the dispersing effect of a low‐cost polymer, polyvinyl butyral (PVB), coupled with standard ultrasound sonication. Several dispersion approaches were tested in order to develop a consistent and widely applicable dispersion protocol. The tape casting technology was subsequently used to produce 100 to 300 μm thick PVB‐matrix composite tapes, reinforced by multiwall CNTs dispersed according to the optimized protocol. Their mechanical properties were evaluated, and a simple model was used to demonstrate that the effective dispersion of CNTs is the key to obtain significantly improved properties.