Preparation and characterization of nylon610/functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes composites

Abstract

Nylon610 nanocomposites containing functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared using wet melt blending method, which is a novel preparation technique. In comparison with the pure nylon610, the elastic modulus, tensile strength, bending modulus, and bending strength of the composites increase significantly with the increase of MWCNTs content, and the mechanical properties of the composites are also improved significantly by adding a small amount of MWCNTs (0.1 wt %). The crystallization peak of the composites shifts to higher temperature with the addition of MWCNTs, and among the two melting peaks, the intensity of melting peak at low temperature decreases with increasing MWCNTs content. The composites are more stable than pure PA610 and decompose at higher temperature, suggesting that the accession of MWCNTs can improve the composites' thermal stability. The storage modulus of the composites decreases with the temperature increasing, but under lower temperature it increases significantly with the addition of MWCNTs-COOH except for PANT-0.1 sample. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of composites exhibit that the wet melt blending technique can avoid the excess agglomeration of MWCNTs under vacuum dryness, which benefits MWCNTs to disperse uniformly in matrix. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.