Origin of mechanical modifications in poly (ether ether ketone)/carbon nanotube composite

Variations in the hardness of a poly (ether ether ketone) beam electrically modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT, 0.5%-3%) are investigated. It is shown that both rupture and hardness variations correlate with the changes in carbon nanotube concentration when using micro indentation and extended Raman imaging. Statistical analysis of the relative spectral intensities in the Raman image is used to estimate local tube concentration and polymer crystallinity. We show that the histogram of the Raman D band across the image provides information about the amount of MWCNTs and the dispersion of MWCNTs in the composite. We speculate that we have observed a local modification of the ordering between pure and modified polymer. This is partially supported by small angle neutron scattering measurements, which indicate that the agglomeration state of the MWCNTs is the same at the concentrations studied. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.