Enhancing Thermo-Mechanical Properties Of Nano-Modified Polymer Composite Material By Modification Of CNT Surface

Abd Razak, Jeefferie (2018) Enhancing Thermo-Mechanical Properties Of Nano-Modified Polymer Composite Material By Modification Of CNT Surface. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

In recent years,polymer-based multi-scale hybrid composites have drawn great attention from research and industrial organizations.This is due to their outstanding improvements in resulted material properties in comparison with their constituent material and single reinforcement composite system.This research is to prepare and characterize of Epoxy/Kenaf single-composites and MWCNTs filled Epoxy/Kenaf multi-scale hybrid composites for the resulted mechanical,thermal,physical and morphological performances.The main drive of this research was catalysed from the demand to discover new alternative substitute for lighter and cost effective advanced material with comparable significant performance that the present material could offer, as compared than existing technology.The composites are prepared by using a high speed mechanical stirring process with curing by the solution casting technique.At the first phase of this research, the parameter interaction optimization between kenaf fibre content (-5.00 wt. %; +35.00 wt. %), stirring time (-10.00 minutes; +50.00 minutes) and stirring speed (-100 rpm; +700 rpm) for Epoxy/Kenaf composite system was established by using two-level full factorial design.A set of 23 fractional factorial design for three independent variables, with three replication at centre point and no blocks was used to yield a total of eleven (11) sets of experiments.The response surface methodology (RSM) by Design Expert 6.0.8 software was used to optimize the stirring parameters and kenaf filler loading towards the maximum tensile strength (TS) response. The optimum stirring conditions was optimized into stirring speed at 100 rpm, stirring time at 10 minutes and 5 wt. % of kenaf filler content with the highest repeatability and R2 value of ~99.9%.The stage two of this research was followed and specifically focussing into the effect of MWCNTs nanofiller weight percentages addition into the epoxy/kenaf composites at 0.00,0.25,0.50,0.75,1.00 and 3.00 wt. %.The addition of MWCNTs as second reinforcement phase in Epoxy/Kenaf composites could enhanced the interfacial adhesion and provided good synergistic effect toward the properties enhancement for the prepared hybrid composites.The multi-scale hybrid composites with 1.00 wt. % of MWCNTs content addition, possessed outstanding mechanical properties improvement (tensile strength: +48.24% and tensile modulus: +44.59%) as compared than epoxy/kenaf composite (controlled sample).The experimental results were supported with thermal and dynamic analyses.It was confirmed that,the superior glass transition temperature (Tg) shift of 43.90°C from Differential Scanning Calorimetry analysis (DSC) was presented by epoxy/kenaf/1.00 wt. % MWCNTs system, has indicated drastic thermal stability improvement, due to the presence of MWCNTs.In overall,MWCNTs filled epoxy/kenaf multi-scale hybrid composite that was prepared through the combination of an optimized stirring conditions and kenaf fibre loadings was able to provide the significant hybrid synergism and stiffening effect between both fillers within an epoxy matrix.

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