Carbon material (carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced composites are being studied widely. The content of the reinforcing materials is known as the main influencing factor. However, the dispersion of the reinforcing materials is often neglected or, where it is investigated, not thoroughly evaluated. In this article, the dispersion states of carbon materials in the composite materials were quantitatively analyzed using an image processing method. Meanwhile, the reliability of the image analysis was verified through the testing results of the mechanical and rheological properties of the composites. Both CB and CNTs improved the mechanical properties of maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (PP)/ethylene propylene diene monomer composites, wherein their dispersion was the dominant factor instead of their content. The dispersion of the easily agglomerated CNT was significantly poorer than that of CB. Therefore, CB was better in inducing the crystallization of PP.

The purpose of this paper is to research improvement in the flexibility of epoxy acrylate 3D printing materials so as to satisfy the requirements of clothing attachments or accessories. Tensile tests, differential scanning calorimeter, XRD, rheological and Fourier transform infrared analysis were used to measure and compare the performance and characteristics of polyethylene glycol modified bisphenol-A epoxy acrylate 3D printed samples with different molecular weights and contents. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the experimental results, the E/PEG 1000 (1/0.2)-AA sample was revealed to have an optimal composition ratio. After secondary curing, the tensile strength of the sample rose to 8 MPa, with the elongation being converged to 30%. This paper provides a reference for the modification and improvement of flexible UVcured 3D printed products.

Fe 3 O 4 @CNF anode material for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) was designed and fabricated using lyotropic cellulose acetate as the carbon nanofiber (CNF) phase and Fe(acac) 3 as the Fe 3 O 4 phase through the electrospinning approach. Because the CNFs could retard the change of Fe 3 O 4 volume during the electrochemical cycling and improve the electrical conductivity and the introduction of Fe 3 O 4 could offer a larger specific surface area and more mesopores to promote electrolyte penetration and Li + diffusion, the Fe 3 O 4 @CNFs electrode showed high reversible capacities (RCs) of 773.6 and 596.5 mAh g −1 after 300 cycles and capacity residuals of 98.0 and 99.0% at high current densities 1 and 2 A g −1 , respectively. This simple method to fabricate Fe 3 O 4 @ CNFs composite as anode material can be widely applied to fabricate metal oxides and bio-carbon composite nanofibers for highperformance energy storage materials.

Component contacting degree in a composite material is an important reference for evaluation the performance characteristics. In this article, two composite material systems involving polylactic acid (PLA) with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and PLA with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) were prepared by blending and laminating through fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology. The mechanical and thermal properties of the as-prepared composite materials were examined. The results indicated that PLA and TPU played a dominant role in tensile strength and breaking elongation, respectively, in individual composite material. ABS and TPU changed the glass transition peek, crystallinity, and modulus of PLA. The results also suggested that although the processing design of the blending method was more suitable for the contact between two components, but the mechanical properties of laminated composites were closer to theoretical predictions. The structural design and processing technology provide a comparative method and reference basis for studying the performance characteristics of composite materials.

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