Influence of Characteristics of Thermoplastic Polyurethane on Graphene-Thermoplastic Polyurethane Composite Film

Graphene-thermoplastic polyurethane (G-TPU) composite films were fabricated by traditional blending method and tape casting process with commercial graphene sheets as functional fillers and TPU masterbatches of four different melting points as matrix, respectively. The effects of matrix on the distribution of graphene, the electrical conductivity, and infrared (IR) light thermal properties of the G-TPU composite films were investigated. The experimental results reveal that the characteristics of TPU has little influence on the electrical conductivity of the G-TPU composite films, although the four TPU solutions have different viscosities. However, under the same graphene mass content, the thermal conductivity of four G-TPU composite films with different melting points is significantly different. The four kinds of G-TPU composite films have obvious infrared (IR) thermal effect. There is little difference in the temperatures between the composite films prepared by TPU with melting a point of 100 degrees C, 120 degrees C, and 140 degrees C, respectively; however, when the content of graphene is less than 5 wt%, the temperature of the composite film prepared by TPU with a melting point of 163 degrees C is obviously lower than that of the other three composite films. The possible reason for this phenomenon is related to the structure of TPU.

Automated summary

The study investigated the influence of TPU masterbatches with different melting points on the distribution of graphene, electrical conductivity, and infrared light thermal properties of graphene-thermoplastic polyurethane (G-TPU) composite films. It was found that the characteristics of TPU had little impact on the electrical conductivity, but significantly affected the thermal conductivity of the composite films.