Yes / Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) nanocomposites were prepared by twin-screw extrusion and micro injection molding. The electrical conductivity of micro injection molded polymer nanocomposites exhibits a low value and uneven distribution in the micromolded samples. Real-time tracing of electrical conductivity was conducted to investigate the post thermal treatment on the electrical conductivity of microinjection molded composites. The results show that postmolding thermal treatment leads to a significant increase in the electrical conductivity by over three orders of magnitude for 5 wt % CNT-filled TPU composites. In-situ Transmission electron microscopy confirms the conductive CNT network does not change at the micron/sub-micron scale during thermal treatment. TEM image analysis by a statistical method was used to determine the spatial distribution of CNT in the sample and showed that the average distance between adjacent CNT reduced slightly at the nanometer scale after postmolding thermal treatment. A new conductive mechanism is proposed to explain the enhancement of electrical conductivity after thermal treatment, i.e. micro-contact reconstruction of adjacent CNT in the polymer matrix through annealing-induced relaxation of interfacial residual stress and strain. Raman spectra and small angle X-ray scattering curve of annealed samples provide supporting evidence for the proposed new conductive mechanism. The electron tunneling model was used to understand the effect of inter-particle distance on the conductivity of polymer composites. / Chinese Ministry of Education. Grant Number: 313036; National Natural Science Foundation of China. Grant Number: 51433006
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/8024 |
| Date | 26 April 2015 |
| Creators | Li, Dongxu, Fei, G., Xia, H., Spencer, Paul, Coates, Philip D. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted Manuscript |
| Rights | © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Full-text reproduced in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: Li D, Fei G, Xia H, Spencer PE and Coates PD (2015) Micro-contact reconstruction of adjacent carbon nanotubes in polymer matrix through annealing-Induced relaxation of interfacial residual stress and strain. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 132(33), which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/app.42416 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms). |
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