Abstract
A surface-sizing technique was offered to take full advantage of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and epoxy resins. Two surface-sizing treated MWCNTs were obtained through a ball-milling treatment of amino-functionalized MWCNTs (MWCNT-NH2) with n-butyl glycidylether (BuGE) and benzyl glycidylether (BeGE). These were referred to as MWCNT-BuGE and MWCNT-BeGE. The results indicated that the surface sizing effectively enhanced wettability, dispersibility of MWCNTs in the epoxy resin. These ameliorating effects, along with improved interfacial interaction between MWCNT-BeGE containing benzene rings and the epoxy matrix, which can offer a more efficient local load-transfer from matrix to MWCNTs, as observed by a higher G-band shift in Raman spectrum under bending loads than that of MWCNT-BuGE reinforced ones. Correspondingly, MWCNT-BeGE/epoxy nanocomposites exhibited increasing flexural strength and modulus of 22.9% and 37.8% respectively compared with the neat epoxy, and 7.3% and 7.7% respectively compared with MWCNT-BuGE/epoxy nanocomposites with the same MWCNT content.
Highlights
Epoxy resin has been widely used as the polymer matrix of high performance composites in many engineering fields due to its three-dimensional cross-linked thermoset structures with outstanding mechanical and bonding properties [1,2,3]
The surface sizing technique mentioned in this study shows the potential industrial application prospect use to obtain high performance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/epoxy nanocomposites
The flexural strength and modulus of MWCNT-benzyl glycidylether (BeGE)/epoxy nanocomposites can reach 150 MPa and 3.6 GPa, with an increase of 22.9% and 37.8% compared with the neat epoxy, and 7.3% and 7.7% compared with MWCNT-butyl glycidylether (BuGE)/epoxy nanocomposites with the same MWCNT cNoannotmenatte,riianlsd2i0c1a8,ti8n, 6g80that the surface sizing containing benzene rings offered a more efficient13loocf a16l load-transfer between MWCNTs and the epoxy matrix
Summary
Epoxy resin has been widely used as the polymer matrix of high performance composites in many engineering fields due to its three-dimensional cross-linked thermoset structures with outstanding mechanical and bonding properties [1,2,3]. Since the performance requirements of advanced composite materials have been continuously increased in some special industrial applications, such as aviation and aerospace industry, the mechanical properties of epoxy resin need to be further improved. In addition to changing the chemical structure of the resin matrix, nano-enhancement is an important technical mean to improve mechanical performances through the incorporation of nano-scale additives [4,5]. Previous researchers often used hydroxy, carboxylic, amino, epoxy and silane functionalization, et al, to enhance the wettability, dispersibility, and surface reactivity of CNTs in a resin matrix [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]
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