Achieving Large Dielectric Property Improvement in Poly(ethylene vinyl acetate)/Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites by Tailoring Phase Morphology

In this work, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were melt compounded with a poly(ethylene vinyl acetate)/thermoplastic polyurethane (EVA/TPU) blend to prepare EVA/TPU/MWCNT blend nanocomposites. The effects of the blend morphology and selective localization of MWCNTs on the dielectric properties including dielectric constant and loss were systematically investigated. The results show that when the blend exhibits sea-island morphology accompanying MWCNT selective localization in island, droplets, the dielectric constant was increased to 1200@100 Hz with addition of 5 wt % MWCNTs; in addition, the growth of dielectric loss is suppressed and the values of dielectric loss always remain around 1 with varying the loading of MWCNTs. Furthermore, based on the investigations of rheological percolation testing, morphological observation, and selective localization, the microcapacitor model was evoked to explain the underlying mechanism for the improvement of the dielectric constant for the blend with sea-island morphology.