Abstract

We report the effects of electron beam (EB) irradiation on the thermal, mechani- cal, and electrical properties of nanocomposite films, based on polyethylene (PE) and mul- tiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), manufactured by solid mixing and melt- compression. For this purpose, the MWCNT content in the nanocomposite films was con- trolled to 1−10 wt% and the EB irradiation dose was 1−150 kGy. It was found that the melt- ing temperature and enthalpy of pristine PE and its nanocomposite film were improved on using low EB doses of 1 and 10 kGy because of irradiation-induced heating and crosslink- ing. In contrast, high EB doses of 50 and 150 kGy led to significant reduction in the melting temperature and enthalpy as well crystallization temperature and enthalpy of the films because of chain scission or degradation. The electrical resistivity of the nanocomposite films decreased from ~10 10 to ~10 1 Ω cm on increasing the MWCNT content, and regard- less of the EB irradiation dose, electrical percolation of MWCNTs in the PE matrix was attained at a MWCNT content between 3 and 5 wt%. Accordingly, PE/MWCNT nanocom- posite films with low electrical resistivity of 10 2 −10 1 Ω cm, which were subjected to moder- ate EB irradiation doses, exhibit excellent electric heating behavior, which depends on the applied voltage and MWCNT content.

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