Tailoring of polymer-nanomaterial interactions

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this research work is to investigate polymer nanomaterial interaction to understand the properties of the polymer nanocomposites. The first part of the dissertation explored the dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) that are non-covalently wrapped with a crosslinkable polymer and stabilized for transfer to different solvent systems by crosslinking. This method can be employed in processing SWNTs for polymeric composites. The second part of the dissertation concerns the development of epoxy/polyhedral oligomeric silsesquiaxanes composite in order to enhance thermal, mechanical and barrier properties of the resin.

Findings and Conclusions: Wrapping of SWNTs with a poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-allylamine) (PVP-PAAm) polymer gave stable dispersions of SWNTs in water. After crosslinking of polymer with gluteraldehyde, the dispersion of SWNTs was no longer limited to aqueous suspension. The presence of individual nanotubes before and after crosslinking of polymer was confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy. Epoxy/POSS composites were synthesized by incorporating a very low weight fraction of glycidyl POSS into Epon 862 resin by simple mechanical mixing. We found that there is a significant reduction in gas permeability and an improvement in thermomechanical properties of the resin with the addition of 1 wt. % of POSS. However, loadings above 1% by weight results the agglomeration of POSS, which degrades the properties of the materials.