A novel preparation and characterization of electroless NiP/MWCNT composite coated UHMWPE fabric in terms of wettability, electrical conductivity, thermal stability and breaking load resistance

Abstract

Poor wettability results in fragile bonding between the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric and matrix of the composites. To overcome this issue, the present study proposes a novel approach for the deposition of electroless nickel-phosphorus (NiP) and nickel-phosphorus/multi walled carbon nanotube (NiP/MWCNT) coating on the surface of UHMWPE. The influence of coatings on the morphology, phase structure, crystal size, functional groups, surface roughness, wettability, water absorption property, electrical conductivity, thermal stability, peeling load and breaking load of UHMWPE fabric are detailed. After MWCNT was reinforced, the cauliflower structure reported for NiP coated UHMWPE (NiP-UHMWPE) was altered for NiP/MWCNT-coated UHMWPE (NiP/MWCNT-UHMWPE). The crystal size of NiP has slightly increased to 1.307 nm for NiP/MWCNT-UHMWPE from 1.22 nm of NiP-UHMWP. The contact angle of NiP-UHMWPE (84.36°) was relatively lower than the NiP/MWCNT-UHMWPE (92.46°) and UHMWPE (102°), due to the formation of more nickel globules in the surface of NiP-UHMWPE. Though the wettability was high for the NiP and NiP/MWCNT coating, the water absorption percentage has not increased for NiP-UHMWPE and NiP/MWCNT-UHMWPE. The electrical conductivity was improved for NiP/MWCNT-UHMWPE after the reinforcement of MWCNT. The breaking load of the NiP and NiP/MWCNT coated UHMWPE fabric improved by 6.24% and 12.11% respectively. The more detailed study in terms of functional group, crystal structure, compounds, electrical conductivity, thermal stability, peeling load, and tensile failure analysis of coated UHMWPE fabric are reported in this article.