Continuous Production of Polycarbonate-Carbon Nanotube
Composites
J.A.
Covas1,(*), C.A. Bernardo1,
O.S. Carneiro1, J.M. Maia1,
F.W.J. van Hattum1, A. Gaspar-Cunha1, L.P. Biró2,
Z.E. Horváth2,
I. Kiricsi3, Z. Kónya3,
K. Niesz3
1IPC – Institute for Polymers and Composites,
Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães,
Portugal
2Nanostructures Laboratory, Research Institute for
Technical Physics and Materials Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1121
Budapest, Hungary
3Department of Applied and Environmental Chemistry,
University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Rerrich Béla tér 1, Hungary
Abstract
One
of the main obstacles in current research in polymer carbon nanotube composites
is the high price of carbon nanotubes and thus their availability in large
quantities. This critically limits the range of techniques that can be used to
prepare the composites. As such, the development of methods for their
continuous production in small quantities can bring great benefit to the research
in this area.
The
present text describes an investigation on the continuous, laboratory-scale,
production of polymer/carbon nanotube composites by extrusion. The objective of
the study was not only to make new materials, but also, through appropriate
design, to enable the scaling-up of the production technique.
Multi-wall
carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were made by chemical vapour deposition of acetylene
on alumina supported transition metal catalysts. Composites were then produced
in a purpose built micro-extruder and characterized at the nano- and
macroscopic scales.
It was found that important processing
parameters of the current micro-extruder were comparable to those of industrial
extruders. Thus, it can be anticipated that the quality of composites produced
with it will be comparable to that of composites of the same system produced in
large-scale equipments.
Keywords: carbon nanotubes; polymer composites; rheology; melt processing; extrusion; scale-up
(*)(*)
Corresponding author:
Tel: +351 253 510320;
Fax: +351 253 510339
e-mail: jcovas@dep.uminho.pt