Polyethylene Nanotube Nanocomposites

Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, North Guwahati 781 039, Assam, India 

Keywords CNTs, HDPE, UHMWPE, characterization, nanocomposites, surface modification. 

The discovery of CNTs offers exciting opportunities for a number of applications in most areas of science and engineering due to their remarkable properties. Both theoretical and experimental results suggest enormous properties of CNTs (1-3), which are compiled in 

Mittal (ed.) Polymer Nanotube Nanocomposites, (113-140) Scrivener Publishing LLC 

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is an engineering plastic which has a wide spectrum of applications, particularly as a material for orthopedic prostheses due to its high strength, high resistance to chemicals and physical abrasion, high wear 

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Logakis E, Pissis P, Pospiech D, Korwitz A, Krause B, Reuter U, et al. Low electrical percolation threshold in polyethylene terephthalate)/multi-walled carbon nanotube nanocomposites. European Polymer Journal. 2010 May 46(5) 928-36. 

Noroozu and Zeboria [57] have measured the effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the mechanical and thermal properties of medium-density polyethylene matrix carbon nanotube nanocomposites. 

Bonduel D, Bredeau S, Alexandre M, Monteverde F, Dubois P (2007) Supported metallocene catalysis as an efficient tool for the preparation of polyethylene/carbon nanotube nanocomposites effect of the catalytic system on the coating morphology. J Mater Chem... 

Liang GD, Tjong SC (2006) Electrical properties of low-density polyethylene/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites. MatCT Chem Phys 100 132... 

Keywords Polyethylene-based blends, polyethylene-based composites, polyethylene-based nanocomposites, carbon nanotubes, lignocellulose... 

B. M. Amoh, S. A. A. Ramazani, and H. Izadi. Preparation of Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene / Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites with a Ziegler - Natta Catalytic System and Investigation of Their Thermal and Mechanical Properties. /. Appl. Polym. Sci. 125, E453 (2012). 

CNTs may consist of just one layer (i.e. single-walled carbon nanotubes, SWCNTs), two layers (DWCNTs) or many layers (MWCNTs) and per definition exhibit diameters in the range of 0.7 < d < 2 nm, 1 < d < 3 nm, and 1. 4 < d < 150 nm, respectively. The length of CNTs depends on the synthesis technique used (Section 1.1.4) and can vary from a few microns to a current world record of a few cm [16]. This amounts to aspect ratios (i.e. length/diameter) of up to 107, which are considerably larger than those of high-performance polyethylene (PE, Dyneema). The aspect ratio is a crucial parameter, since it affects, for example, the electrical and mechanical properties of CNT-containing nanocomposites. 

Polymer nanocomposites with medium density polyethylene were reported with a variety of fluorinated and un-fluorinated nanotubes (37). The nanocomposites consisting of 1 wt% F-SWNT-C H (fluorinated and surface treated nanotubes) nanotubes showed an increase in tensile strength by 52.4%, modulus by 15.9% and elongation by 18.9% as compared to the pure polymer. The composites with 1 wt% F-SWNT-CnH23 (fluorinated and surface treated nanotubes) had an increase of 28.3% in modulus as compared to the pure polymer. The tensile strength also increased from 4.33 MPa for the pure polymer to 5.01 Mpa for the nanocomposite, the elongation at... 

Hyde, J. Licence, P. Carter, D. Poliakoff, M. (2001) Continuous Catalytic Reactions in Supercritical Fluids. Appl. Catal., A. Vol.222, No.1-2, pp.119-131 Jin, S. Kang, C Yoon, K Bang, D. Park, Y. (2009) Elect of compatibilizer on morphology, thermal, and rheological properties of polypropylene/functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite. /. Ayyl. Polym. Set. Vol.lll, No.2, pp.1028-1033 Joen, H Jung, H Lee, S. Hudson, S. (1998) Morphology of polymer/Silicate Nanocomposites Hieh Density Polyethylene and a Nitrile Copolymer. Polym. Bull. Vol.41, No.l, pp.107-111... 

Reis J, Kanagaraj S, Fonseca A, Mathew MT, Capela-Silva F, Potes J, et al. In vitro studies of multiwalled carbon nanotube/ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene nanocomposites with osteoblast-like MG63 cells. Braz J Med Biol Res 2010 43 476-82. 

In the last decade, considerable progress was observed in the field of PO/compatibil-izer (predominantly on the base of PO-g-MA)/organo-surface-modified clay nanocomposites. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and ethylene-propylene (EP) rubber are one of the most widely used POs as matrix polymers in the preparation of nanocomposites [3,4,6,30-52]. The PO silicate/silica (other clay minerals, metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, or other nanoparticles) nanocomposite and nanohybrid materials, prepared using intercalation/exfoliation of functionalized polymers in situ processing and reactive extrusion systems, have attracted the interest of many academic and industrial researchers because they frequently exhibit unexpected hybrid properties synergisti-cally derived from the two components [9,12,38-43]. One of most promising composite systems are nanocomposites based on organic polymers (thermoplastics and thermosets). 

Kim, J., Hong, S. M., Kwak, S. and Seo, Y., Physical properties of nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization of high-density polyethylene on multiwaUed carbon nanotubes , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2009,11, 10851-10859. Yang, R, Ou, Y. and Yu, Z., Polyamide 6/shca nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization . Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 1997, 69, 355-361. 

Cold welding of medium-density polyethylene nanocomposites is much more extensive than that of neat medium-density polyethylene. This difference is attributed to the increased thermal conductivity of neat medium-density polyethylene when carbon nanotubes are added to the formulation. 

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