Overview of Polymer Nanotube Nanocomposites

Provided in this chapter is an overview on the fundamentals of polymer nanocomposites, including structure, properties, and surface treatment of the nanoadditives, design of the modifiers, modification of the nanoadditives and structure of modified nanoadditives, synthesis and struc-ture/morphology of the polymer nanocomposites, and the effect of nanoadditives on thermal and fire performance of the matrix polymers and mechanism. Trends for the study of polymer nanocomposites are also provided. This covers all kinds of inorganic nanoadditives, but the primary focus is on clays (particularly on the silicate clays and the layered double hydroxides) and carbon nanotubes. The reader who needs to have more detailed information and/or a better picture about nanoadditives and their influence on the matrix polymers, particularly on the thermal and fire performance, may peruse some key reviews, books, and papers in this area, which are listed at the end of the chapter. 

Carbon nanotubes represent high potential fillers owing to their remarkably attractive mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. The incorporation of nanotubes in the polymer matrices can thus lead to synergistic enhancements in the composite properties even at very low volume fractions. This chapter provides a brief overview of the properties and synthesis methods of nanotubes for the generation of polymer nanocomposites. 

This chapter is an overview of the synthesis and properties of PVA/ nanotube composites. Various films and fibers have been processed from carbon nanotube and PVA dispersions. Compared to other polymers, PVA exhibit particularly strong interaction with single-walled as well as multiwalled carbon nanotubes. This leads to unique properties which are not observed in other nanotube polymer nanocomposites. In particular, this literature review confirms... 

In addition to their low density and high aspect ratio, the exceptional mechanical and physical properties of carbon nanotubes make them an ideal and excellent candidate for fabricating high performance and multi-functional polymer nanocomposites. Over the past years, much progress has been made in the field of CNT reinforced polymer composite materials. In this review, we mainly provide an overview about the mechanical properties of polymer/carbon nanotube composites and the insights to the main factors that ultimately influence their final properties. 

A great number of reviews concerning selective aspects of fullerenes and carbon nanotube (CNT) chemistry and physics have been published. The fundamentals of carbon nanostructures connected with fullerenes and CNTs were summarized by Kratschmer [150], Dresselhaus et al. [151] and Bernholc et al. [152], The electronic and structural properties of CNTs were described by Mintmre et al. [153]. An overview of the synthesis and application of CNT-polymer nanocomposites can be found in recently published reviews [154-162] and in a comprehensive review with over 250 references cited in a tabular format [158]. Recent results on electrochemical formation of polymers containing fullerenes, and studies of their... 

Electrically conductive polymer nanocomposites have already entered the marketplace because these novel materials provide enhanced properties at competitive prices. The number and scope of their applications will continue to grow as greater control of their properties is achieved. In this chapter, we have provided an overview of the theoretical, srmidation, and experimental research on the electrical properties of polymer nanocomposites with rodlike particles, particularly carbon nanotubes and metallic nanowires. The main findings are summarized below ... 

The purpose of providing a brief overview on recent reviews of nanocomposite materials that discuss synthesis, structure properties, and applications is to bring to the reader s attention the nascence of this field and justify the rare availability of degradation studies of these materials when we have only recently embarked on our journey to understanding the fundamentals about them. Nevertheless, a few examples of degradation studies of nanocomposite materials are provided with the hope of advances towards mechanistic aspects of degradation with nanomaterials components. Chrisaffis et al [56, 57] report studies on the decomposition mechanisms of syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) nanocomposites with two different types of nano fillers multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and carbon nanodiamonds (NDs). sPS is a semicrystalline polymer considered to be a... 

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