Competition between supernucleation and plasticization in the crystallization and rheological behavior of PCL/CNT‐based nanocomposites and nanohybrids |
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| Authors: | Juan F. Vega Joel Fernández‐Alcázar Juan V. López Rose Mary Michell Ricardo A. Pérez‐Camargo Benoit Ruelle Javier Martínez‐Salazar María Luisa Arnal Philippe Dubois Alejandro J. Müller |
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| Affiliation: | 1. BIOPHYM, Departamento de Física Macromolecular, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia (IEM‐CSIC), Madrid, Spain;2. Grupo de Polímeros USB, Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela;3. POLYMAT and Polymer Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Donostia‐San Sebastián, Spain;4. Service des Matériaux Polymères et Composites SMPC, Center of Research and Innovation in Materials & Polymers CIRMAP, Université de Mons‐UMONS, Mons, Belgium;5. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain |
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| Abstract: | PCL was blended with pristine multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and with a nanohybrid obtained from the same MWCNT but grafted with low molecular weight PCL, employing concentrations of 0.25 to 5 wt % of MWCNT and MWCNT‐g‐PCL. Excellent CNT dispersion was found in all samples leading to supernucleation of both nanofiller types. Nanohybrids with 1 wt % or less MWCNTs crystallize faster than nanocomposites (due to supernucleation), while the trend eventually reverses at higher nanotubes content (because of plasticization). Rheological results show that yield‐like behavior develops in both nanocomposites, even for the minimum content of carbon nanotubes. In addition, the MWCNT‐g‐PCL family, when compared with the neat polymer, exhibits lower values of viscosity and modulus in oscillatory shear, and higher compliance in creep. These rheological differences are discussed in terms of the plasticization effect caused by the existence of low molecular weight free and grafted PCL chains in the nanohybrids. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1310–1325 |
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| Keywords: | crystallization differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) nanocomposites rheology |
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