Study on Morphology and Thermo-mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotube-modified Polycarbonate

In this work, a series of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)/polycarbonate (PC) composites were prepared. A combined experimental of transmission electron microscope (TEM) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were used to study on the morphology and thermo-mechanical properties of MWNT/PC composites as a function of MWNT aspect ratio. The results showed that smaller aspect ratio nanotubes lead to greater broadening of the loss modulus peak in frequency space, however, there was no effect of aspect ratio on the glass transition temperature. The breadth of the loss modulus peak was found to correlate with the free space parameter, a measure of the spacing between the MWNTs. These results shed light on the separate impacts of aspect ratio, dispersion, and interface modification on the viscoelastic behavior of prepared MWNT/PC composites.