Preparation of nylon MXD6/EG/CNTs ternary composites with excellent thermal conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness

Abstract

In this article, hybrid fillers with different dimensions, namely, 2-dimensional (2-D) expanded graphite (EG) and 1-dimensional (1-D) multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), were added to aromatic nylon MXD6 matrix via melt-blending, to enhance its thermal and electrical conductivity as well as electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE). For ternary composites of MXD6/EG/CNTs, the electrical conductivity reaches up nine orders of magnitude higher compared to that of the neat MXD6 sample, which turned the polymer-based composites from an insulator to a conductor, and the thermal conductivity has been enhanced by 477% compared with that of neat MXD6 sample. Meanwhile, the EMI SE of ternary composite reaches~50 dB at the overall filler loading of only 18 wt%. This work can provide guidance for the preparation of polymer composites with excellent thermal and electrical conductivity via using hybrid filler.