Performance Enhancement of UHMWPE with Surface Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes/Graphite

Abstract

Carbon nanostructures have been effectively used to reinforce polymers due to their excellent mechanical properties. This paper investigates the thermal and mechanical properties of ultra-high-molecular weight polyethylene UHMWPE nanocomposites reinforced with acid-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and graphite. The UHMWPE nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing at 200 °C. The test specimens were compression moulded at 215 °C and 7.36 MPa and mechanical and thermal properties were studied with respect to nanofiller content. Evaluation of mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites showed that the addition of up to 1% MWCNT to the UHMWPE significantly improved the tensile and flexural properties by 30%. In the case of graphite, tensile properties decreased while flexural property increased. While the thermal properties such as specific enthalpy and percentage of crystallinity increased with nanofiller content. These observed results are attributed to the nanofiller content as well as the dispersion of the nanofiller in the polymer, which was substantiated by morphological analysis using transmission electron microscopy. However, at higher concentration of carbon nanofillers, both mechanical and thermal properties showed a slight decline due to the formation of agglomerates.