Study on thermal properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) and polyurethane composites with multiwalled carbon nanotubes/silica nanohybrids. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xie, Hongyan; Ye, Qing; Liu, Jin; Zhou, Guanglian; Liu, Wei; Lu, Hongdian; Yang, Wei
• Is Part Of: Journal of thermoplastic composite materials. Volume 30:Number 3(2017:Apr.)
• Page Start: 404
• Page End: 415
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Multiwalled carbon nanotubes -- silica -- poly(vinyl alcohol) -- polyurethane -- thermal properties; Thermoplastic composites -- Periodicals; 668.423
• DOI: 10.1177/0892705715599434
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0892-7057

Abstract

Two kinds of multiwalled carbon nanotubes/silica nanohybrids (CNTs/SiO2 ) were synthesized via a sol–gel method by coating SiO2 on the surfaces of CNTs that had been functionalized with poly(sodium- p -styrenesulfonate) (PSS). The influence of the nanohybrids on the thermal properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and polyurethane (PU) composites was investigated. Characterization of CNTs/SiO2 nanohybrids, elucidated with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, showed that PSS played a key role in the final morphology and resulted in a "core/shell" and "candied haws on a stick"-like structure. The thermal degradation and thermo-oxidation of PVA and PU composites evaluated by thermogravimetic analyses suggested that the thermal properties of PVA/(CNTs/SiO2 ) composites were improved at relative high temperature range when compared with pure PVA, and the improvement mainly depended on the loading fraction of the nanohybrids, while for PU/(CNTs/SiO2 ) composites, a small fraction of the nanohybrids increased the materials thermal properties, but the improvements were influenced by the type of CNTs/SiO2 nanohybrids.