Polypropylene based carbon nanotubes composites: structure and properties

In the field of polymer nanocomposite materials, carbon nanotubes have attracted lots of research interests in the recent past for their potentialities in improving a wide range of polymer properties. We present here a comprehensive study on polypropylene/carbon nanotube composites evaluating the morphology as well as the thermal behaviour of the prepared systems. Pristine as well as -COOH functionalised carbon nanotubes were taken into account and melt mixed at different weight fractions with PP; the crystallisation characteristics of the material were evaluated by means of DSC and XRD and the thermal behaviour was assessed through TGA analyses. The nanotubes appear to affect significantly the properties of the matrix in a way notably dependent on the functionalization and on the filler amount.