Carbon nanotube reinforced elastomers

Mrs. Deepalekshmi Ponnamma is doing Doctoral Research in Polymer Nanocomposites at School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India. She has about 4 years of research experience in nanomaterials and their polymer nanocomposites. Her study is mainly focussed on the properties of carbon nanotube reinforced elastomer composite systems. She has been a visiting student for many universities abroad. She has published eight papers in international journals and eight book chapters. She has participated in several international conferences and has best poster and oral presentation awards to her credit. She has edited three books as well. 

Bokobza, L. Burr, A. Garnaud, G. Perrin, M. Pagnotta, S. (2004) Fibre Reinforcement of Elastomers Nanocomposites Based on Sepiolite and Poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate). Polym. Int. Vol.53, N0.8, pp.1060-1065, ISSN 0959-810 Bonduel, D. Mainil, M. Alexandre, M. Monteverde, F. Dubois, P. (2005) Supvported Coordination Polymerisation A Unique Way to Potent Polyolefin Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites. Chem. Commun. Vol.l4, No.6, pp.781-783 Bruckner, S. Meille, S. Petraccone, V. Pirozzi, B. (1991) Polymorphism in Isotactic Polypropylene. Prog. Polym. Sci. 16, No.2-3, pp.361-404 Bryning, M. Islam, M Kikkawa, J. Yodh, A. (2005) Very Low Conductivity Threshold in Bulk Isotropic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Epoxy Composites. Ado. Mater. Vol.17, N0.9, pp.1186-1191... 

Further, the effect of the reinforcement of carbon nanotubes on the properties of the recycled PET/PEN blends has been investigated [83]. Two types of functional elastomers, a terpolymer of ethylene ethyl acrylate-maleic anhydride and a terpolymer of ethylene-methyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate, have been used to ensure the miscibility between poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(ethylene naphthalate) during the preparation of the blends. 

Carbonaceous Nanofillers Recently research efforts have focused on nano-scale variants of carbon black (carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers and exfoliated nanographite) as possible reinforcing fillers in elastomers. Among these, nanotubes are attracting the most attention. 

Peddini et al. [9] used oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as reinforcement in SBR matrices to improve the rheological properties and thus the elastomer performances in tires. Materials containing 15% MWCNTs proved to have the highest dispersion. In a further study [10], the group assessed the tensile stress-stain behavior of the resulted composites, showing that the stress is reduced with the increase of the nanotube concentration. 

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