Carbon nanofiber reinforced thermoplastic elastomer based on polypropylene/polybutadiene blend: theoretical modeling of Young’s modulus of the nanocomposites with respect to the orientation and agglomeration of carbon nanofiber

Abstract

Abstract The effect of the concentration of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on thermoplastic elastomer based on polypropylene/polybutadiene (PP/BR) blend (80/20) prepared by melt blending process was investigated. The morphological properties are reported in combination with the mechanical and rheological properties of the nanocomposites. The dispersion of CNFs examined by transmission electron microscopy shows uniform dispersion of CNFs in the PP matrix. The mechanical performance is found to be in line with the morphological structure observed in scanning electron microscopy. Tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the PP/BR blend increase with an increase of filler content up to 3 wt%. The modified Halpin-Tsai equation that accounts for the effect of orientation and agglomeration of CNF was used to evaluate the Young’s modulus of the nanocomposite. The dynamic rheological analysis in the frequency sweep experiment shows that the introduction of CNF in the PP/BR blend improves the complex viscosity (ƞ*), storage modulus (G′), and loss modulus (G″) in the low-frequency region.