Abstract
Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by melt blending. Morphological observation showed well dispersion of CNTs in EVA. Effect of CNTs on crystallization of EVA was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The beginning and maximum crystallization temperatures for CNT/EVA composite resulted 10 and 5 °C higher than pure EVA, respectively, showing high nucleation capability of CNTs in EVA matrix. The morphologies were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), whereas, flammability properties were assessed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), natural burning and cone calorimetry. It was resulted that when nanodimensional material was not well dispersed, degradation products were not changed significantly. Unlike, CNT/EVA nanocomposites gave reasonably good reductions in peak heat release even when well nano-dispersed has not been obtained due to formation of low permeable char containing graphitic carbon. It was noticeable that CNT addition to EVA reduced surface cracks of chars which improved barrier resistance to evolution of flammable volatiles and oxygen access to condensed phase. The CNTs declined heat release rates and mass loss rate by 50–60 %, prolonged combustion time to two times in CNT/EVA samples. The TGA data also displayed that CNTs increased thermal degradation temperatures and final charred residues of CNT/EVA samples. The experimental observations from the torque, morphological evolution tests, and SEM resulted that CNTs are utilized for (1) increase of melt viscosity due to network structure formation of CNTs in the EVA matrix; (2) the enhancement of thermoxidation stability as a result of the CNTs’ mechanical strength and integrity of the charred layers in the CNT/EVA nanocomposites; (3) the formation of compact charred layers promoted by CNTs acted as heat barrier and thermal insulation.
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