A carbon nanosphere nanofluid for improving the toughness and thermal properties of epoxy composites

Abstract

A carbon nanosphere nanofluid (CNS-nanofluid) was successfully prepared through the non-covalent modification of carbon nanosphere (CNS) with the specific ionic liquid (i.e., [M2070][VBS]) at first. The resulting CNS-nanofluid is a homogeneous and stable fluid with liquid-like behaviour at room temperature, and which shows better dispersion stability in its good solvents and improved processability than the pristine CNS. Subsequently, this CNS-nanofluid was used as a kind of novel functional filler and incorporated into epoxy matrix to prepare the CNS-nanofluid filled epoxy composites (CNS-nanofluid/EP composites). The toughness and thermal properties of those CNS-nanofluid/EP composites were carefully characterized and analysed. And it was found that this CNS-nanofluid could respectively improve the impact toughness and glass transition temperature of the CNS-nanofluid/EP composites to 19.8 kJ/m2 and 122.5 °C at the optimum amount, demonstrating that this CNS-nanofluid is a kind of promising functional filler to achieve robust epoxy composites, and thus opening up new possibilities with great significance for epoxy composites in high-performance applications.

Pultrusion preparation and properties of continuous glass fiber reinforced polylactic acid thermoplastic composites

“…When T < T g , the PLA molecular chain segment is difficult to move, and CGF plays the role of skeleton in the CGF/PLA, which increases the E′ of the CGF/PLA. When T > T g , PLA molecular chain segment began to move, and the CGF/PLA entered a high elastic state, resulting in a rapid reduction of E′ of the CGF/PLA 10 . Figure 7e–h displays the SEM micrographs of tensile fracture surfaces of pure PLA and CGF/PLA‐3, respectively.…”

“…When T > T g , PLA molecular chain segment began to move, and the CGF/PLA entered a high elastic state, resulting in a rapid reduction of E 0 of the CGF/PLA. 10 Figure 7e-h displays the SEM micrographs of tensile fracture surfaces of pure PLA and CGF/PLA-3, respectively. The tensile fracture morphology for pure PLA is smooth checked in Figure 7e,f.…”

“…[7][8][9] For thermosetting polymers, they are fluids with viscosities at room temperature, and which could be irreversibly cured into solid with high heat resistance and stiffness when heated according to specific heating procedures. 10,11 On the contrary, thermoplastic polymers are powder or solid at room temperature and show liquid-like behaviors at their melting temperatures. 12,13 Composites using the thermoplastic polymers as matrix are named as thermoplastic composites.…”

“…And polymer matrix can be divided into thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers, respectively 7–9 . For thermosetting polymers, they are fluids with viscosities at room temperature, and which could be irreversibly cured into solid with high heat resistance and stiffness when heated according to specific heating procedures 10,11 . On the contrary, thermoplastic polymers are powder or solid at room temperature and show liquid‐like behaviors at their melting temperatures 12,13 .…”