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Author(s): Jeffrey R. Potts, Ling Du, Om Shankar, Rodney S. Ruoff, Shanthi Murali

Keywords: dma, dynamic mechanical analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis (dma), electrical conductivity, graphite, modified hummers method, nanocomposites, polymer composites, scanning electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (sem), sem, surface area to volume ratio, tego, tem, thermal conductivity, thermally exfoliated graphite oxide, thermally exfoliated graphite oxide (tego), transmission electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (tem), two-roll prep mill, ultrasonication, uniaxial tensile testing, wabash hot press, waxs, wide angle x-ray scattering, wide angle x-ray scattering (waxs), xps analysis

Abstract: Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide (TEGO) was mixed with natural rubber (NR) using a two-roll mill but the mixing of the TEGO with the NR didn't proceed as expected. Therefore the researchers had to modify the procedure and decided to pre-mix the TEGO and NR in an ultrasonically-assisted latex co-coagulation process followed by two-roll milling resulted in significant improvement in the thermal and electrical properties of the nanocomposite compared to the non-ultrasonicated material. TEM, SEM and WAXS were performed in order to elucidate the physical properties of the nanocomposite, and investigate the thermal properties of the novel material. A comparison was made between carbon black (CB)/NR nanocomposites and the TEGO/NR composites.

Reference: Composites Science and Technology 74 (2013) 166-172

DOI: 10.1016/j.compscitech.2012.11.008