STUDY OF DIFFERENT VARIABLES IN THE CURE BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY/CARBON NANOTUBES COMPOSITES

Abstract

Recently, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), in particular functionalized, have been added to epoxy matrix due to its extraordinary mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. The incorporation of carbon nanotubes to the epoxy resin, as reinforcement, may improve the resin properties, but also modify the curing process. The study of the curing reaction of polymers is very important, because it affects the final properties of the composite. Literature shows controversial information about the influence of CNTs, functionalized or not, in the curing reaction of epoxy resin. Furthermore, there are variables that influence the cure of these composites that have not yet been studied. Thus, the objective of this project is to study systematically the influence of four process variables in the cure of composite CNT/epoxy resin: purification type, functionalization type, intensity of ultrasound treatment and influence of the homogeneity of the composites. Most works of literature that has studied the curing reaction of these composites used DSC. Rheology is a technique not widely used, despite being a very sensitive technique, that provide curing information that DSC does not provide. Thus, the curing study will be performed using rheology and DSC. The two techniques will provide complementary and important information about the influence of the variables in the cure of composites. The final viscoelastic properties, as well as the homogeneity of the final composite, will also be studied. The correlation between these information will allow a better study about the interaction CNT/resin, and will clarify how different variables can modify the curing process of these composites.