Evolution of Microstructure and Physical Properties of PMMA/ MWCNTs Nanocomposites upon the Addition of Organoclay

Rostami, Amir; Eskandari, Forouzan; Masoomi, Mohsen; Nowrouzi, Mohsen

doi:10.22034/jogpt.2019.95563

Evolution of Microstructure and Physical Properties of PMMA/ MWCNTs Nanocomposites upon the Addition of Organoclay

Authors

Amir Rostami ¹

Forouzan Eskandari ²

Mohsen Masoomi ²

Mohsen Nowrouzi ³

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Engineering, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

² Department of Polymer Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr Branch, Khuzestan-Iran

³ Department of Marine Environment, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

10.22034/jogpt.2019.95563

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the application of Cloisite 30B organoclay (C30B) on the rheological, structural, electrical, and thermal characteristics of poly (methyl methacrylate)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes nanocomposites (PMMA/MWCNTs) fabricated by the simultaneous melt mixing. The microstructure and the state of nanofllers dispersion were
assessed by melt linear viscoelastic experiments, X-ray diﬀraction (XRD), and electron microscopy. The obtained results illustrated that the applied C30B nanofller considerably altered the pattern of MWCNTs dispersion and reaggregation. The study of electrical properties of single fller and hybrid nanocomposites also showed that the percolation threshold almost remained intact with the addition of C30B (φc ~0.18%), but an eﬀective decrease in volume resistivity was observed at high MWCNTs loading levels. Finally, thermal analyses, employed as complementary experiments, confrmed that the MWCNTs dispersion was improved by the incorporation of C30B nanofllers.
Upon the incorporation of nanofllers, a decrease in tanδ peak height and a small increase in Tg were observed. The Td,5%, Td,70%, and Tmax of the neat PMMA were 308, 342.9 and 335.2 °C, respectively while for the PMMA- 0.5%MWCNTs-3%C30B, they stood at 314.7, 380.3 and 369.2 °C, respectively.

Keywords

Polymer Modifcation

Nanocomposites

Hybrid system

Microstructure

Rheology

Termal properties