Abstract
Electrospun one dimensional (1D) and two dimensional (2D) carbon based polymer nanocomposites are studied in order to determine the effect provided by the two differently structured nanofillers on crystallinity and thermo-mechanical properties of the nanofibres. The nanomaterials studied are pristine carbon nanotubes, oxidised carbon nanotubes, reduced graphene oxide and graphene oxide. Functional groups associated with the order structure of the polymers are analysed by infrared and Raman spectroscopies; the morphology is studied by scanning electron microscopy and the crystallinity properties are investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. Differences in crystallisation behaviour between 1D and 2D carbon based nanofibres are shown by their crystallinity degree and their crystal sizes. The nanocomposite crystal sizes perpendicular to the plane (100) decrease with nanofiller content in all cases. The crystallinity trend and crystal sizes are in accordance with storage modulus response. The results also suggest that functionalisation favours interfacial bonding and dispersion of the nanomaterials within the polymer matrix. As a consequence the number of nucleating sites increases which in turn decreases the crystal size in the nanocomposites. These features explain the improved thermo-mechanical properties in the nanocomposites.
Highlights
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have attracted growing interest from a large variety of scientific communities investigating the properties and applications of these nanomaterials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
Carbon based nylon 6,6 electrospun nanofibres were obtained in order to study for the first time the effects of the addition of 1D and 2D nanometric carbon when processed at the same conditions
The structure of nanomaterials and the functionalisation were found to play an important role in the properties of the nanocomposites. Both 1D CNT and 2D graphene based electrospun nanofibres obtained in this study showed enhanced crystallinity and improved reinforcing effect compared to pure polymer
Summary
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have attracted growing interest from a large variety of scientific communities investigating the properties and applications of these nanomaterials [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The great versatility of carbon nanomaterials arises from their physical, mechanical, electrical and thermal properties [1,2,3]. Their unique properties make them promising candidates for their use as advanced reinforcing fillers for high-strength, light-weight and functional polymer nanocomposites [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Polymer nanocomposites require homogeneous dispersion and strong interfacial interaction between the filler and the polymer matrix for the enhancement of mechanical and thermal properties [11] Functionalisation in these materials provides efficient stress transfer between the polymer matrix and the nanometric carbon by preventing aggregation and providing a better dispersion of the nanomaterials in the polymer matrix [6,9]. The functional groups at the surface of nanometric carbon create the strongest type of interfacial bonding with the polymer matrix [7,11]
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