Enhancement of the thermal and mechanical properties of polyurethane/polyvinyl chloride blend by loading single walled carbon nanotubes

Structural, thermal, and mechanical properties of pure blend and nanocomposites based on polyurethane (PU)and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) doped with low different content of single walled-carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)were studied. The nanocomposites at different concentration were prepared via casting technique. Theinteraction between PU/PVC and CNTs were examined via FT-IR studies. The changes in the structures ofthe nanocomposites were examined using X- Ray Diffraction (XRD), and the results indicated that theamorphous domains of nanocomposites increased with increasing SWCNTs content. Transmission electronmicroscope (TEM) observation indicated that SWCNTs surface was wrapped with the polymer with the thermalproperties of nanocomposites improved. The mechanical behavior of the nanocomposites was evaluated as afunction of SWCNTs content. The main enhancement in tensile properties was observed, e.g., the tensilestrength and elastic modulus increased compared with the pure blend, which may be attributed to theinteraction and adhesion between CNTs and the polymer matrices due to the hydrogen bonding betweencarbonyl groups (C=O) of polymer blend chains and carboxylic acid (COOH) groups of CNTs.