Development of mixing technique and Characterization of polymer nanocomposites based on carbon nanopearls and thermosetting resins

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Nanopearls are newly invented particles on the nano dimensions. They are another form of the carbon morphology. The difference between nanopearls and other forms of carbon such as carbon black, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphenes, is that nanopearls have somewhat spherical shape, in contrast to wire shape such as carbon nanotubes, or plate shape such as graphene. As such nanopearls do not have large aspect ratios such as those of carbon nanotubes or graphenes, but nanopearls are inexpensive to make, and they are not toxic. Nanopearls offer many attractive characteristics such as high stiffness, high strength. The advantage that nanopearls have over carbon nanotubes and graphenes is the ease in dispersability in polymers such as epoxies and thermoplastics. This ease in dispersability allows the possibility for the development of many polymer nanocomposites with attractive characteristics. The objective of this research proposal is to investigate the polymer nanocomposites made from the mixing of nanopearls in epoxy. Epoxy is the base material for many polymer composites that are increasingly used in making aircraft structures. The activities will include the development of mixing procedure to ensure good dispersion, and the determination of machanical properties of the resulting polymer nanocomposites. These properties include tensile strength and modulus, shear strength and modulus, damping and vibration properties, and resistance against wear. Applications will be in the aerospace, automotive and sports equipment sectors. Activities for this project will have two aspects. First is the development of techniques for the dispersion of nanopearls in epoxy. Different techniques such as three-roll mill, high speed dispersion, ultrasonic will be used. Microscopic observation will be made to confirm the dispersion. The second aspect involves many tests for mechanical and physical properties determination. These include tensile, compressive, shear properties, along with heat distortion temperature, damping and fracture resistance. These results will help the company in getting applications in industry. Other Language Version of Summary