Suspended carbon black fluids reinforcing and toughening of poly(vinyl alcohol) composites

Publication date: 15 September 2017
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 130
Author(s): Xianze Yin, Puxin Weng, Shiwen Yang, Lu Han, Yeqiang Tan, Fei Pan, Dongzhi Chen, Luoxin Wang, Jun Qin, Hua Wang
A convenient and green approach was utilized to prepare the suspended carbon black fluids (SCBF) using carboxylic CB nanoparticles with diameters of 15nm as the core and poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO) as surface modifier via hydrogen bonding interaction. It was found that when the total polymer content (strongly adsorbed layer and weakly adsorbed or free layer) was greater than 60wt%, the SCBF exhibited liquid-like behavior without solvent. More interestingly, the flow mechanism mainly related to surface polymer content, which greatly differed from ionically or covalently nanofluids systems. Besides, the thermal, dispersibility, electrical conductivity properties and rheological behaviors, as well as microstructure of SCBF were systematically investigated using various methods. Moreover, the SCBF as fillers were used to prepare SCBF/Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composites for producing the simultaneous reinforcement and plasticization effect due to the unique fluidity of SCBF and interfacial interactions between the PVA molecules and SCBF via hydrogen bondings.

Graphical abstract

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