Structures and Properties of Carbon Nanotubes/Thermosets Nanocomposites Subjected to External Electric Field during Cure Stage

Abstract:

In this investigation, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were dispersed in an interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) based on acrylate and cycloaliphatic epoxy resin (CER). The influences of the external electric field on the MWCNTs dispersion and the microstructure of host matrix were evaluated by means of optical microscopy, scanning electric microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The microscopy measurements showed that the distribution of the MWCNTs depended strongly on the properties of the applied electric field. Applying AC electric field to the liquid MWCNTs/thermoset systems during curing stage could redistribute the MWCNTs, which arranged them in chain-like structures and oriented fibrous inclusions parallel to the applied electric field. However, the similar phenomenon was not observed in DC electric field. From the observations of AFM measurement, it was found that the utilization of the external electric field resulted in the nanostructured twophase structures in the resulting MWCNTs/thermoset nanocomposites. These novel electric-field-induced morphology transformations were mainly attributed to the curing process under the applied electric fields. The relationships between the microstructures and various physical properties of nanocomposites were also presented in this paper. The resulting nanocomposites displayed the interesting dielectric properties and the thermal stability properties, which significantly depended on their special microstructures of inclusions and the host matrix.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 743-744)
• Pages: 126-137
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.743-744.126
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Jian Ping Yang, Jing Kuan Duan, Chang Xiu Fan, Pei De Han, Shuang Xi Shao, Ping Kai Jiang
• Keywords: Alignment, Electric Field, Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT), Nanocomposite

References

[1] S. Iijima, Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon, Nature. 354 (1991) 56-58.

DOI: 10.1038/354056a0

[2] H.S. Nalwa, Handbook of nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnology, vol. 5, Academic Press, New York, (2000).

[3] M.S. Dresselhaus, G. Dresslhous, P.C. Eklund, Science of Fullerenes and Carbon nanotubes, Academic Press, San Diego, (1996).

[4] M.S. Dresselhaus, G. Dresslhous, P. Avouris, Carbon nanotubes: Synthesis, structure properties and application, Springer, Berlin, (2001).

[5] J.K. Duan, S.X. Shao, Y. Li, L.F. Wang, et al., B.P. Liu. Polylactide/graphite nanosheets/MWCNTs nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, Iranian Polymer Journal. 21 (2012) 109-120.

DOI: 10.1007/s13726-011-0008-8

[6] T. Villmow, P. Potschke, S. Pegel , L. Haussler, B. Kretzschmar, Influence of twin-screw extrusion conditions on the dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in a poly(lactic acid) matrix, Polymer. 49 (2008) 3500-3509.

DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2008.06.010

[7] D.L. Marcus., P.N. James, S.S. Eric, Simple Route to large-scale ordered arrays of liquid-deposited carbon nanotubes, Nano Letters. 4 (2004) 603-606.

DOI: 10.1021/nl035233d

[8] M.A. Abdeen, A.S. Ayesh, A.A.A. Jaafari, Physical characterizations of semi-conducting conjugated polymer-CNTs nanocomposites, Journal of Polymer Research. 19 (2012) DOI: 10. 1007/s10965-012-9839-z.

DOI: 10.1007/s10965-012-9839-z

[9] P.M. Ajayan, O. Stephanm, C. Colliex, D. Trauth, Aligned carbon nanotube arrays formed by cutting a polymer resin-nanotube composite, Science. 265 (1994) 1212-1214.

DOI: 10.1126/science.265.5176.1212

[10] T.S. Saotome, H.S. Kim, L.M. David, H.H. Thomas, Transparent conducting film: Effect of mechanical stretching to optical and electrical properties of carbon nanotube mat, Bulletin of Materials Science. 34 (2011) 615-622.

DOI: 10.1007/s12034-011-0007-6

[11] N. Mohammed, A.M. Díez-Pascual, M.A. Gómez-Fatou, New hybrid nanocomposites containing carbon nanotubes, inorganic fullerene-like WS2 nanoparticles and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK). 21 (2011) 7425-7433.

DOI: 10.1039/c1jm10441a

[12] T. Kimura, H. Ago, M. Tobita, Polymer composites of carbon nanotubes aligned by a magnetic field, Advanced Materials. 14 (2002) 1380-1383.

DOI: 10.1002/1521-4095(20021002)14:19<1380::aid-adma1380>3.0.co;2-v

[13] T. Takahashi, K. Yonetake, K. Koyama, T. Kikuchi, Polycarbonate crystallization by vapor-grown carbon fiber with and without magnetic field, Macromolecular Rapid Communications. 24 (2003) 763-767.

DOI: 10.1002/marc.200350021

[14] J.K. Duan, J. Zhang, P.K. Jiang, Effect of External Electric Field on Morphologies and Properties of the Cured Epoxy and Epoxy/Acrylate Systems, Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 125 (2012) 902-914.

DOI: 10.1002/app.33368

[15] Q.H. Zhang, Z.J. Chang, M.F. Zhu, et al., Dajun Chen. Electrospun carbon nanotube composite nanofibres with unizxially aligned arrays, Naonotechnology. 18 (2007) 115611.

DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/18/11/115611

[16] X.Q. Chen, T. Saito, H. Yamada, K. Matsushige, Alignment single-wall carbon nanotubes with an alternating-current electric field, Applied Physics Letters. 78 (2001) 3714-3716.

DOI: 10.1063/1.1377627

[17] J.R. Wood, Q. Zhao, H.D. Wanger, Orientation of carbon nanotubes in polymers and its detection by Ranman spectroscopy, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing. 32 (2001) 391-399.

DOI: 10.1016/s1359-835x(00)00105-6

[18] C.A. Martin, J.K.W. Sandler, A.H. Windle, et al., Electric field-induced aigned multi-wall carbon nanotube networks in epoxy composites, Polymer. 46 (2005) 877-886.

DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2004.11.081

[19] C. Pohl, H. Dielectrophoresis, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England, 1978, p.38.

[20] P. Herman, Schwan and D. Sher, Lawrence, Alternative-Current Field-Induced Forces and Their Biological Implications, Journal of the Electrochemical Society. 22c (1969) 116-125.

DOI: 10.1149/1.2411748

[21] G.H. Kim, Y.M. Shkel, Analysis of the electric orientation of inorganic micro/nano-particles in a liquid polymer considering electrophoresis flow, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. 17 (2007) 2522-2527.

DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/17/12/019

[22] M.K. Schwarz, W. Bauhofer, K. Schulte, Alternating electric field induced agglomeration of carbon black filled resins, Polymer. 43 (2002) 3079-3082.

DOI: 10.1016/s0032-3861(02)00084-8

[24] G.K.H. Pank, K.Z. Baba-Kishi, Patel, A. Topographic and phase-contrast imaging in atomic force microscopy. Ultra-microscopy. 81 (2000) 35-40.

DOI: 10.1016/s0304-3991(99)00164-3

[25] Y. Tsori, F. Tournilhac, D. Andelman, Leibler L. Structural changes in block copolymers: coupling of electric field and mobile ions, Physical Review Letters. 90 (2003) 145504.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.90.145504

[26] J.K. Duan, C. Kim, P.K. Jiang, Effect of external electric field on microstructures and properties of carbon nanotubes/thermosets nanocomposites, Polymer Composites. 31 (2010) 347-358.

DOI: 10.1002/pc.20812

[27] L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, Electrodynamics of Continuous Media: Oxford, 1960, Chapter Ⅱ.

[28] Y. Tsori, F. Tournilhac, L. Leibler, Orienting ion-containing block copolymers using ac electric fields, Macromolecules. 36 (2003) 5873-5877.

DOI: 10.1021/ma034026x

[29] T.P. Skourlis, R. Mccullough, The effect of temperature on the behavior of the interphase in polymeric composites, Composites Science and Technology. 49 (1993) 363-368.

DOI: 10.1016/0266-3538(93)90068-r