Multi-walled carbon nanotube in a miscible PEO/PMMA blend: Thermal and rheological behavior.

Abstract Thermal and rheological behaviors have a significant impact on the properties and applications of polymer blends and their composites. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) filled poly (ethylene oxide)/poly (methyl methacrylate) (PEO/PMMA 60/40) blends with various MWCNTs concentrations were prepared via melt mixing. The DSC results indicate that the incorporation of MWCNTs not only raise the crystallization temperature but also increase the crystallinity. According to the results of dynamical oscillatory measurements, the storage modulus in accordance with the typical terminal behavior at low-frequency region for the blank PEO/PMMA blends, due to the well miscibility between PEO and PMMA. As the MWCNTs increase, the slope of storage modulus versus angular frequency plots in the low-frequency is lower than neat blend. Moreover, the melt viscosity of high concentration composites increases at low frequencies. The creep-recovery experiments results show that when the nanofiller concentration reaches 4%, the zero-shear viscosity of the composites does not exist. These suggest that the composites exhibit a transformation from liquid-like to solid-like states when the MWCNTs concentration is up to 4 wt%. Highlights • PEO/PMMA/MWCNTs composites were prepared by melt blending. • Addition of MWCNTs increases the crystallization temperature and crystallinity. • No zero-shear viscosity was found at high MWCNTs concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]