Carbon nanotube-reinforced composites modification with polymers

The importance of promoting better knowledge in the field of polymer composites is demonstrated by the contents of this volume, which contains 18 Independent chapters. The first part of this volume deals with the topic of structure and properties of polymer nanocomposites. In Chapter 1, Schulte et al. review the state of the art of carbon nanotube-reinforced polymers. The opportunity to apply carbon nanotubes as a filler for polymers and the improvement of the mechanical and functional properties are discussed. The application of non-layered nanoparticles in polymer modification is described by M. Q. Zhang et al. in Chapter 2. A grafting polymerization technique is applied to inorganic nanoparticles, which helps to provide the composites with balanced performance. Chapter 3, authored... 

Improvements in friction and wear have also been reported with carbon nanotube reinforced polymer composites (Igarashi et al., 2005). This is due to both increases in strength of the material and the modification of the transfer layer by fragments of nanotube which can reduce friction. There is an optimum nanotube composition (Cai et al., 2004) typically about 10% by weight, for the best wear performance (Werner et al., 2004). 

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