Abstract
This work aims to investigate the improvements of thermal and chemical properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by using Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). MWCNT were used as a reinforcement in polyethylene terephthalate with different weight percentages (0.1, 0.5, and 1) % respectively. The direct mixing process was used to prepare (polyethylene terephthalate / MWCNTs) composites. The ultrasonic mixing technique was applied to disperse the MWCNTs material into polyethylene terephthalate. The intensities of absorption of hydroxyl and carbonyl group decreased with increasing the addition of MWCNTs from (0.1-1%), comparing with pure PET. The results of TGA showed that the incorporation of MWCNTs into pure PET slightly improves the thermal stability because interfaces between multifuntionlized MWCNTs and pure PET causes of reducing brittle behavior and increased due to the high crosslinking of pure PET. The mechanical tests appeared significant improvements with increasing of MWCNTs concentrations. The SEM micrographs showed more voids between the pure PET chains before adding MWCNTs while MWCNTs-PET composites appeared more homogeneous, crosslink density and less voids between the chains.
Highlights
Polymer nanocomposites are a new type of composite materials, and in the recent decade, many nanoparticles such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and graphene have been applied in the synthesis of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) nanocomposites via melt mixing or polymerization
Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) tests were applied to confirm the presence of hydroxyl and carboxyl groups and to calculate the hydroxyl and International Journal of Materials Science and Applications 2016; 5(6): 297-301 carbonyl indexes of PET nanocomposites [29]
The spectra of FTTR proved the presence of the absorbance band at 3400 due to hydroxyl groups and the band (1723cm-1) due to carbonyl groups that formed from carboxyl functional groups
Summary
Polymer nanocomposites are a new type of composite materials, and in the recent decade, many nanoparticles such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and graphene have been applied in the synthesis of PET nanocomposites via melt mixing or polymerization. They are prepared by the incorporation of carbon nanofiber fillers to improve the mechanical and electrical properties with chemical stability by a very attractive way [1,2,3,4,5,6]. MWCNTs thermoplastics composites have the ability to improve the stiffness, the thermal and mechanical Properties of
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