Enhanced Morphological, Mechanical and Dielectric Properties of Paraffin Wax Incorporated with Polyaniline (PANI) and Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) nanocomposites

Abstract

In the present work, composites of polyaniline (PANI)/Paraffin and PANI/reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/Paraffin have been evaluated for mechanical properties by nanoindentation technique and electrical and dielectric properties by open-ended coaxial probe technique. For mechanical tests, the 5 mm thick composites have been subjected to a maximum load of 296.9 μN and the deformation has been recorded for the composites throughout the loading-unloading mechanisms of the Berkovich indenter. PANI/Paraffin composites yield higher deformation of 717.2 nm while the lowest displacement has been exhibited by PANI/RGO/Paraffin composites of 484.7 nm with distinct elastic recovery of the material. In terms of indentation Hardness and Young's modulus, PANI/RGO/Paraffin composites reveal higher hardness of 0.034 GPa and Young's modulus of 3.5 GPa. To study the electrical conductivity and dielectric properties of the composites over the X band frequency range (8–12 GHz), the composites have been coated with a layer of gold nanoparticles by sputter coating technique. Gold coated PANI/RGO/Paraffin composites shows enhanced electrical conductivity which is 54 % higher as compared to gold coated pure PANI/Paraffin composite at a frequency of 12 GHz. Also the dielectric properties are seen to have improved for PANI/RGO/Paraffin composites.