Interphase in polymer-based nanocomposites: Polyoctenamer – Single-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

A detailed and critical analysis of the non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis of polyoctenamer-single wall carbon nanotube, is presented. The thermogravimetric data were obtained under an inert atmosphere (nitrogen) on polyoctenamer- single wall carbon nanotube nanocomposites loaded by different amounts of nanofiller (up to 10 % wt. single wall carbon nanotube), at various heating rates ranging from 5 to 40 °C/minute.The research focuses on the identification of the polymer-nanofiller interphase, including the detailed dissemination between the interface and interphase. The manuscript aims at the information that can be extracted from the recorded thermograms as well as from the derivatives of the thermograms with respect to the temperature. The detailed analysis of the temperature at which x% of the mass is volatilized, TX%, and of the residual mass fraction at high temperatures (850 °C and 950 °C) provide qualitative support for the presence of interphase.The research demonstrated that the derivatives of the thermograms versus temperature have a better resolution than “standard” thermograms. The derivative of the thermograms provides qualitative information about the formation of an interphase. A model for the degradation of the nanocomposites is proposed by assuming that the dependence of the inflection temperature on the composition of the nanocomposite obeys a Fox-like dependence, where the bulk polymer and the polymer trapped within the interphase are considered as a blend of two miscible polymers.