Development of single‐polypropylene composites interleaved with MWCNT‐doped melt‐blown fine fiber mats

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AbstractIn this article, we demonstrate fabricating polypropylene (PP)/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposite fiber veils and use them as interleaves in single‐polymer composites (SPCs) to enhance their thermal and mechanical properties. With this regard, we produced a hierarchical composite structure made of a film, a woven fabric and a fine fiber mat made of the same polymer. The nanocomposite fiber mats were generated by melt‐blowing. Results implied that incorporating MWCNT increased the viscosity of the melt blowing grade PP resin. Increasing MWCNT content increased the average fiber diameter and pore size by 2.1‐fold and 2.5‐fold, respectively. Incorporating MWCNT enhanced the melt‐blown (MB) fiber mat's specific strength by 78% and improved the thermal stability. We generated multiscale SPCs by film‐stacking, for which we applied a PP film as a matrix, a PP‐woven fabric as the primary reinforcement, and the MB fiber mats as interleaves. The SPC's tensile modulus was improved by 37% by the interleaving. Our findings implied that the MWCNT‐doped PP fiber mat interleaving provides a robust interfacial adhesion and higher damage tolerance under tensile load. Master curves were constructed from dynamic mechanical analysis frequency sweep tests based on the time–temperature superposition principle. The storage modulus increased by 33%, while the tanδ decreased around 10% with PP/MWCNT fiber mat interleaving. The developed multiscale SPC with MWCNT fiber mat interleaving veils may be easily integrated into engineering composite applications due to its cost‐efficiency, fair recycling, straightforward processing, enhanced stiffness, and interfacial adhesion.