Effect of nanofiber on material properties of vapor-grown carbon nanofiber reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU/CNF) nanocomposites prepared by melt compounding

The present work deals with the preparation of the CNF based TPU nanocomposites by melt blending to explore the effect of state of dispersion and wt.% loading of CNF on material properties. In addition, the morphology, mechanical, thermal, rheological, and electrical properties of the nanocomposites have been evaluated through various characterization techniques with an aim to find the suitability of the nanocomposites for industrial applications. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study reveals that the CNFs exhibited a uniformly dispersed in TPU matrix. The thermal stability of the TPU evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed significant increase with increased CNF content. It is observed that storage modulus (E') and glass transition temperature (T-g) of the TPU matrix increases by the incorporation of CNF. The melting point (T-m) and the T-g of soft segments observed from the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were found to shift towards higher temperature with the inclusion of CNF. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.