Upgrading Electrical, Mechanical, and Chemical Properties of CNTs/Polybond® Nanocomposites: Pursuit of Electroconductive Structural Polymer Nanocomplexes

Abstract

Electroconductive structural polymer-based nanocomposites (NCs) were prepared by incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into Polybond (PB) matrix via melt compounding technique. Chemical structure of NCs, investigated via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, corroborated successful grafting of CNTs functional groups onto PB chains. The morphology of NCs, as examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ensured their optimum state of dispersion. Electrical conductivity, melting transition temperatures, mechanical properties, and chemical resistance of NCs were improved by incorporating CNTs into PB as established by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), high resistance meter (HRM), Universal Testing Machine (UTM), and chemical resistivity measurements, respectively.