Enhancement of mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties of hybrid carbon nanotubes and alumina in epoxy nanocomposites
Loading...
Date
2015-04-01
Authors
Muhammad Razlan Zakaria
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The incorporation of carbon nanotube (CNT) in polymer nanocomposites has become challenges for researchers due to its dispersion in polymer matrix. This work focuses on CNT-alumina hybrid compound prepared via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) which is used to improve dispersion and enhance the mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties of epoxy nanocomposites. The CNT-alumina hybrid compound was successfully synthesized via CVD by using nickel catalyst under methane atmosphere at 800 °C. The physically mixed CNT-alumina was also prepared by ball milling method for comparison. The CNT-alumina hybrid compound and physically mixed CNT-alumina filled epoxy nanocomposites were characterized according to their filler loadings (i.e. 1% - 5%). The CNT-alumina hybrid compound had the size between 10 – 30 nm and 12 Wt % of carbon according to field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis respectively, while x-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the existence of carbon phase among several phases of alumina. The CNT-alumina hybrid compound filled epoxy nanocomposites assessments showed higher mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties than the physically mixed CNT-alumina filled epoxy nanocomposites. This increase is associated with the homogeneous dispersion of CNT-alumina hybrid compound as observed from FESEM and HRTEM. It was demonstrated that the CNT-alumina hybrid compound filled epoxy nanocomposites are capable of increasing tensile strength by up to 30%, giving tensile modulus of 39%, flexural strength of 30%, flexural modulus of 35%, hardness of 17%, thermal conductivity of 20%, glass transition temperature value of 25% and dielectric constant of 20% when compared to a neat epoxy.