Manipulation of thermo-mechanical, morphological and electrical properties of PP/PET polymer blend using MWCNT as nano compatibilizer: A comprehensive study of hybrid nanocomposites

Abstract

In this paper, the electrical resistivity, morphology and dynamic mechanical properties of in-situ reinforced microfibrillar composites (MFNC-C) based on polypropylene reinforced with polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) fibres have been investigated. Influence of various factors such as the effect of the morphology, CNT composition and the nano compatibilizer effect of CNT on the in-situ reinforced microfibrillar nanocomposites, have been analysed. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that the storage modulus microfibrillar composites are precisely related to the fibrils morphology and composition of CNT. It is found that the presence of CNTs on the fibrils surface has improved the storage modulus as well as normalized storage modulus. The results of four probe analysis showed that by increasing CNTs content, the resistivity remarkably decreased with respect to the morphology of the of nanocomposites. Also, scanning electron microscopy images likewise revealed that the preferential localization of MWCNT on to the PET microfibrils enhanced the compatibility between PET fibrils and PP matrix. Hence, The in –situ formation of fibrillar morphology along with MWCNTs is highly useful in terms of mechanical and electrical performance of the resultant nanocomposites. We assume that the optimized results of this work may open an alternative path for the production of commercially important polymer nanocomposite based on the incompatible immiscible blends.