Simultaneous enhancement in mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic shielding properties in PVDF-ABS blends containing PMMA wrapped multiwall carbon nanotubes

Kar, Goutam Prasanna and Biswas, Sourav and Bose, Suryasarathi (2015) Simultaneous enhancement in mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic shielding properties in PVDF-ABS blends containing PMMA wrapped multiwall carbon nanotubes. In: PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 17 (22). pp. 14856-14865.

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Abstract

A unique approach was adopted to drive the multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) to the interface of immiscible PVDF-ABS blends by wrapping the nanotubes with a mutually miscible homopolymer (PMMA). A tailor made interface with an improved stress transfer was achieved in the blends with PMMA wrapped MWNTs. This manifested in an impressive 108% increment in the tensile strength and 48% increment in the Young's modulus with 3 wt% PMMA wrapped MWNTs in striking contrast to the neat blends. As the PMMA wrapped MWNTs localized at the interface of PVDF-ABS blends, the electrical conductivity could be tuned with respect to only MWNTs, which were selectively localized in the PVDF phase, driven by thermodynamics. The electromagnetic shielding properties were assessed using a vector network analyser in a broad range of frequency, X-band (8-12 GHz) and Ku-band (12-18 GHz). Interestingly, enhanced EM shielding was achieved by this unique approach. The blends with only MWNTs shielded the EM waves mostly by reflection however, the blends with PMMA wrapped MWNTs (3 wt%) shielded mostly by absorption (62%). This study opens new avenues in designing materials, which show simultaneous improvement in mechanical, electrical conductivity and EM shielding properties.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
Publisher:	ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY, THOMAS GRAHAM HOUSE, SCIENCE PARK, MILTON RD, CAMBRIDGE CB4 0WF, CAMBS, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	19 Jul 2015 09:27
Last Modified:	19 Jul 2015 09:27
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/51841

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