Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 16;12(6):1356.
doi: 10.3390/polym12061356.

Enhanced Functional Properties of Low-Density Polyethylene Nanocomposites Containing Hybrid Fillers of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Nano Carbon Black

Sandra Paszkiewicz  1 , Anna Szymczyk  2 , Agata Zubkiewicz  2 , Jan Subocz  3 , Rafal Stanik  4 , Jedrzej Szczepaniak  5
Affiliations

Enhanced Functional Properties of Low-Density Polyethylene Nanocomposites Containing Hybrid Fillers of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Nano Carbon Black

Sandra Paszkiewicz et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

In this work, hybrid filler systems consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and nano carbon black (nCB) were incorporated by melt mixing in low-density polyethylene (LDPE). To hybrid systems a mixture of MWCNTs and nCB a mass ratio of 1:1 and 3:1 were used. The purpose was to study if the synergistic effects can be achieved on tensile strength and electrical and thermal conductivity. The dispersion state of carbon nanofillers in the LDPE matrix has been evaluated with scanning electron microscopy. The melting and crystallization behavior of all nanocomposites was not significantly influenced by the nanofillers. It was found that the embedding of both types of carbon nanofillers into the LDPE matrix caused an increase in the value of Young's modulus. The results of electrical and thermal conductivity were compared to LDPE nanocomposites containing only nCB or only MWCNTs presented in earlier work LDPE/MWCNTs. It was no synergistic effects of nCB in multi-walled CNTs and nCB hybrid nanocomposites regarding mechanical properties, electrical and thermal conductivity, and MWCNTs dispersion. Since LDPE/MWCNTs nanocomposites exhibit higher electrical conductivity than LDPE/MWCNTs + nCB or LDPE/nCB nanocomposites at the same nanofiller loading (wt.%), it confirms our earlier study that MWCNTs are a more efficient conductive nanofiller. The presence of MWCNTs and their concentration in hybrid nanocomposites was mainly responsible for the improvement of their thermal conductivity.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; electrical conductivity; hybrid carbon nanofillers; low-density polyethylene nanocomposites; nano carbon black; thermal conductivity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative stress-strain curves for hybrid nanocomposites LDPE/H1:1 (a), LDPE/H3:1 (b), and for LDPE/nCB (c) nanocomposites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of (a,b) LDPE/5H1:1, (c,d) LDPE/5H3:1, and (e,f) LDPE/5nCB nanocomposites.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images of LDPE/10H1:1 (a,b), LDPE/10H3:1 (c,d), and LDPE/10nCP (e,f) nanocomposites.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images of LDPE/10H1:1 (a,b), LDPE/10H3:1 (c,d), and LDPE/10nCP (e,f) nanocomposites.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The electrical conductivity vs. nanofiller content (wt.%) of LDPE/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) [23], LDPE/nCB, LDPE/H1:1 (MWCNTs:nCB), and LDPE/H3:1 (MWCNTs:nCB) nanocomposites.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms recorded during second heating and cooling for LDPE/H1:1 (a,b), LDPE/H3:1 (c,d), and LDPE/nCB (e,f) nanocomposites.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms recorded during second heating and cooling for LDPE/H1:1 (a,b), LDPE/H3:1 (c,d), and LDPE/nCB (e,f) nanocomposites.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mass loss and derivative of mass loss curves for LDPE/MWCNT + nCB hybrid nanocomposites (a and b, respectively) and LDPE/nCB nanocomposites (c and d, respectively) measured in an oxidizing atmosphere.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The thermal conductivity vs. nanofiller content (wt.%) of LDPE/MWCNTs [23], LDPE/nCB, LDPE/H1:1 (MWCNTs:nCB), and LDPE/H3:1 (MWCNTs:nCB) nanocomposites.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pötschke P., Arnaldo M.H., Radusch H.J. Percolation behavior and mechanical properties of polycarbonate composites filled with carbon black/carbon nanotube systems. Polim. Polym. 2012;57:204–211. doi: 10.14314/polimery.2012.204. - DOI
    1. Stauffer D., Aharony A. Introduction in Percolation Theory. Taylor & Francis; London, UK: 1994.
    1. Farrukh M.A. Functionalized Nanomaterials. InTech; London, UK: 2016.
    1. Krishnamoorti R., Vaia R.A. Polymer Nanocomposites. J. Polym. Sci. Part B Polym. Phys. 2007;45:3252–3256. doi: 10.1002/polb.21319. - DOI
    1. Bhattacharya M. Polymer nanocomposites—A comparison between carbon nanotubes, graphene, and clay as nanofillers. Materials. 2016;9:262. doi: 10.3390/ma9040262. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources