Study on the Effects of the Interphase Region on the Network Properties in Polymer Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites.

Yasser Zare,Kyong Yop Rhee

doi:10.3390/polym12010182

Abstract

The interphase region around nanoparticles changes the percolation threshold of long and thin nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) in polymer nanocomposites. In this paper, the effects of the interphase region on the percolation threshold of nanoparticles and the network fraction are studied. New percolation threshold (φP) is defined by the role of the interphase in the excluded volume of nanoparticles (Vex). Moreover, the influences of filler and interphase size on the percolation volume fraction, the fraction of nanoparticles in the network as well as the volume fraction and relative density of the filler network are investigated. The least ranges of “φP” are obtained by thin and long CNT. Similarly, a thick interphase increases the “Vex” parameter, which causes a positive role in the percolation occurrence. Also, thin CNT and a thick interphase cause the high fraction of the filler network in the nanocomposites.

Highlights

Many researchers have focused on polymer/carbon nanotubes (CNT) nanocomposites because their very low volume fractions show effective mechanical, thermal and chemical properties by preserving low density, transparency and simple processing [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
When the details of samples are substituted into Equation (11), the interphase thickness of 5 and 3 nm ar e calculated for poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/MWCNT and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/MWCNT samples, respectively
The effect of the interphase region on the percolation threshold of nanoparticles was studied by the role of the interphase in the excluded volume of the nanoparticles

Summary

Introduction

Many researchers have focused on polymer/carbon nanotubes (CNT) nanocomposites because their very low volume fractions show effective mechanical, thermal and chemical properties by preserving low density, transparency and simple processing [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Models can calculate properties of the interphase by to theimprove experimental number of authors have considered the interphase in the traditional models their individual nanoparticles a higher surface area to volume ratio and exhibit a greater number results of mechanical tests.have estimations forsame mechanical behavior [36,37,38] These models can calculate the propertiesthe of large the density at the volume fraction. Between the measured and the predicted values for high aspect ratio and randomly oriented particlesa number oftoauthors have considered the interphase thethe traditional models to improve their may be due the interactions between the polymer matrixinand particles This observation confirms estimations for mechanical behavior [36,37,38]. The present paper highlights the effects of filler and interphase properties on the excluded volume of CNT, percolation point, the fraction of nanoparticles in the network, the volume fraction of the filler network and the density of the network, which is different from the previous articles

Background

Evaluation of Predictions

Parametric Analysis

Conclusions