Poly(methyl methacrylate)-decorated single wall carbon nanotube/epoxy nanocomposites with re-agglomeration networks: Rheology and viscoelastic damping performance

This work describes the effects of tailoring the morphology of the re-agglomeration network and interfacial bonding by embedding poly(methyl methacrylate) decorated single wall nanotubes (SWNTs) into an epoxy resin. We report the time history of the re-agglomerations in the resin, and the rheological properties of the uncured suspensions to assess the effectiveness of the carbon nanotubes crosslinking on the curing process. A dispersion index was used to quantitatively evaluate the level of re-agglomeration. Both the pristine SWNTs and the polymer decorated SWNTs showed the effectiveness of re-agglomeration in improving rheological storage and loss modulus up to 770% and 50% respectively comparing with samples containing uniformly dispersed filler structure, suggested a novel filler arrangement for optimum composites damping performance. Dynamic mechanical analyser tests of the cured composites show that the re-agglomeration provides an increase of the energy dissipation capability when an appropriate interfacial bonding is in place. These results suggest that the morphology of re-agglomerates offers an effective interesting nano-reinforcement architecture for composites targeted at energy absorption and vibration damping.