Crystallization and thermoelectric behavior of conductive-filler-filled poly(ε-caprolactone)/poly(vinyl butyral)/montmorillonite nanocomposites

Crystallization and thermoelectric properties of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL)/poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites containing carbon black (CB) have been studied as a functions of a small amount of amorphous PVB content and a wide range of molecular weight of PVB. X-ray diffraction data of PCL/PVB/MMT nanocomposites indicates most of the swellable silicate layers are exfoliated and randomly dispersed into PCL/PVB system. The band spacings of PCL spher-ulites in PCL/PVB/MMT nanocomposites decrease with increasing PVB content, and this indicates that increasing the PVB content greatly shortens the period of lamellar twisting. The presence of I wt% MMT and higher molecular weight of PVB also shorten the period of PCL lamellar twisting. Nucleation and crystallization parameters, such as growth rate G and Avrami exponent n, can be determined by using POM and DSC isothermally crystallized at 41 degreesC. For samples with the same CB content, the intensity of positive temperature coefficient (PTC) (I-PTC, defined as the ratio of peak resistivity to resistivity at room temperature) of the nanocomposites was increased as the content and the molecular weight of PVB increases. The change of the PTC property related to the morphological difference (i.e. period of lamellar twisting) in the nanocomposites can be discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.