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Effect of incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotube and graphene in UHMWPE matrix on the enhancement of thermal and mechanical properties

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Abstract

In this work, thermal and mechanical characterizations were performed to investigate the effect of adding 0.1 wt% of carbon nanofillers in ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Two types of nanofillers were investigated: multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene nanosheets. The fabricated materials were evaluated through TGA and DSC techniques for thermal analyses and DMA for assessing rheological behavior, showing that the thermal resistance to degradation (Tonset) has increased by more than 20 °C with the incorporation of graphene fillers and around 8 °C with CNT comparing to the pure matrix. The main reason for the more significant increase in the thermal stability of the graphene nanocomposite was related to the 2D morphology of this type of nanocarbon particle. Moreover, the presence of only CNT increases the crystallinity degree of the composite, resulting in the storage and loss modulus increase. In addition, mechanical performance was studied through microindentation and microscratching tests, showing that the composite with CNT increased the hardness and the scratch resistance. These results were explained by the difference in the microstructure of the nanocomposites. Microscopic images obtained by SEM from the fractured surfaces of the materials revealed that graphene sheets were poorly adhered to the polymer matrix, even reducing the material’s crystallinity, opposite to the nanocomposite with well-adhered nanotubes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by CNPq, FAPERJ, and the Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMETRO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Macromoléculas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – IMA-UFRJ, Ilha do Fundão, Av. Horácio Macedo 2030, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 21945-970, Brazil

    Vinicius O. Aguiar, Igor T. Soares, Victor J. R. R. Pita & Maria de Fatima V. Marques

  2. Materials Metrology Division, National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), Av. Nossa Senhora das Graças 50, Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 25250-020, Brazil

    Marcia M. Maru, Igor T. Soares, Vanessa Kapps, Clara M. Almeida & Braulio S. Archanjo

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF, Rua Passo da Pátrias 156, Niteroi, RJ, 24210-240, Brazil

    Geronimo Perez

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  1. Vinicius O. Aguiar
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Contributions

VOA contributed to methodology, validation, investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft; MdFVM contributed to conceptualization, investigation, supervision, resources, project administration, and writing—review and editing; VJRRP contributed to supervision, methodology, validation, and investigation; KV contributed to investigation, validation, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing; ACM contributed to methodology, validation, investigation, writing—review and editing, and visualization; MMM contributed to supervision, methodology, validation, investigation, writing—review and editing, and visualization; ITS contributed to methodology, investigation, writing—review and editing, and visualization; BSA contributed to resources; GP contributed to methodology, investigation, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Maria de Fatima V. Marques.

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Aguiar, V.O., Maru, M.M., Soares, I.T. et al. Effect of incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotube and graphene in UHMWPE matrix on the enhancement of thermal and mechanical properties. J Mater Sci 57, 21104–21116 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07959-2

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