Thermal and Structural Properties of High Density Polyethylene/Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites: A Comparison Study

Ayat Bozeya,Aya Khalaf,Rund Abu-Zurayk,Yahia F Makableh,Abeer Al Bawab

doi:10.3390/chemosensors9060136

Abstract

The effects of functionalization of carbon nanotubes on the properties of nanocomposite sheets prepared from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were investigated. Carbon nanotubes were first oxidized, followed by amine group functionalization. The Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results confirm the presence of oxygenated and amide groups at the surface of the CNTs after each treatment. The HDPE/CNT nanocomposites sheets were prepared using a melt compounding method. Six types of CNTs were used; pristine Single-walled Carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and pristine Multi-walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), oxidized (O-SWCNT and O-MWCNT) and amide (Amide-SWCNT and Amide-MWCNT). All prepared nanocomposite sheets were characterized using Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). TGA results measured increased thermal stability of the polymer with the addition of CNTs, O-MWCNT showed the best enhancement. XRD measurements confirmed that the addition of CNTs did not change the crystal structure of the polymer, although the crystallinity was decreased. The maximum crystallinity decrease resulted from O-SWNTs addition to the polymer matrix. SEM imaging showed that oxidized and functionalized CNTs have more even dispersion in the polymer matrix compared with pristine CNTs.

Highlights

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer is routinely used for a wide variety of high-end applications such as household plastic products, distribution pipes, heavy duty bags, agriculture packaging, toys, and many others [1,2,3]
These studies have found that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have interesting reinforcement properties when used incorporated in the polymer matrix while strongly influencing the material properties of polymer nanocomposites [10,11]
The calculated % crystallinity from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were in the range 60.5–75.3% which

Summary

Introduction

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer is routinely used for a wide variety of high-end applications such as household plastic products, distribution pipes, heavy duty bags, agriculture packaging, toys, and many others [1,2,3]. The large surface area of reinforcement material means that a relatively small amount of nano-scale reinforcement material can have an observable effect on the macro scale properties of the polymer nanocomposite systems [6,7,8,9,10]. Experimental perspectives [8,9,10,11,12,13] These studies have found that CNTs have interesting reinforcement properties when used incorporated in the polymer matrix while strongly influencing the material properties of polymer nanocomposites [10,11]. The major challenges in the practical implementation of CNTs for industrial applications are enhancing their dispersibility and chemical compatibility in other materials systems [11,13]. A potential solution for this is the use of surface treatments, including chemical oxidation of CNTs

Methods

Results

Conclusion