Thermal, mechanical, and morphological characterisations of graphene nanoplatelet/graphene oxide/high-hard-segment polyurethane nanocomposite: a comparative study

DOI: 10.3390/polym14194224

Authors: Muayad Albozahid (University of Kufa) , Haneen Zuhair Naji (University of Babylon) , Zoalfokkar Kareem Alobad (University of Babylon) , Jacek K. Wychowaniec (The University of Manchester) , Alberto Saiani (University of Manchester)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Polymers , VOL 14

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 15246 , 15478

Abstract: The current work investigates the effect of the addition of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and graphene oxide (GO) to high hard-segment polyurethane (75% HS) on its thermal, morphological, and mechanical properties. Polyurethane (PU) and its nanocomposites were prepared with different ratios of GNP and GO (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 wt. %). A thermal stability analysis demonstrated an enhancement in the thermal stability of PU with GNP and GO incorporated compared to pure PU. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) showed that both GNP and GO act as heterogeneous nucleation agents within a PU matrix, leading to an increase in the crystallinity of PU. The uniform dispersion and distribution of GNP and GO flakes in the PU matrix were confirmed by SEM and TEM. In terms of the mechanical properties of the PU nanocomposites, it was found that the interaction between PU and GO was better than that of GNP due to the functional groups on the GO’s surface. This leads to a significant increase in tensile strength for 0.5 wt. % GNP and GO compared with pure PU. This can be attributed to interfacial interaction between the GO and PU chains, resulting in an improvement in stress transferring from the matrix to the filler and vice versa. This work sheds light on the understanding of the interactions between graphene-based fillers and their influence on the mechanical properties of PU nanocomposites.

Journal Keywords: high hard-segment polyurethane; graphene nanoplatelets; graphene oxide; nanocomposites; thermal stability; mechanical properties

Subject Areas: Materials, Chemistry


Instruments: I22-Small angle scattering & Diffraction

Added On: 10/10/2022 10:50

Documents:
polymers-14-04224.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Chemistry Materials Science Chemical Engineering Engineering & Technology Nanoscience/Nanotechnology Polymer Science

Technical Tags:

Scattering Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)