Discipline:
Subcategory: Materials Science
Farooq Syed - Tuskegee University
Co-Author(s): Shaik Zainuddin, Mackenzie Matthews, and Shaik Jeelani, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tuskegee University Amari Carter, Department of Biology, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL
We implemented molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the effect of pure and carboxylic (¬COOH) functionalized single¬walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) on the crosslinking behavior of Epon 862 nanocomposite. In addition, the interfacial strength and the effect of temperature on this strength was investigated. We found that the introduction of pure SWCNT into the Epon system reduced the crosslinking by 8¬12% in comparison to the neat system. The simulation results showed that the atoms/molecules of Epon 862 and Epikure¬W changed their conformation and aligned themselves in the direction parallel to the surface of SWCNT. Also, no interfacial bonding was found between the polymer and SWCNT. However, the introduction of the –COOH functional groups on the surface of SWCNT lead to increase in crosslinking between the COOH¬SWCNT and Epon 862 system. Furthermore, the interfacial strength increased due to the formation of strong covalent bonding between the carboxylic groups of SWCNT and amine (NH2) groups of Epikure¬W. The variation in the temperature from 300¬450 K showed minimal effect on the crosslinking percentage. The pullout test showed that the Epon polymer functional groups strongly bonded to COOH¬SWCNT. This study led to cognize that the functionalization of SWCNT aided in improving the bonding between SWCNT and Epon polymeric system leading to enhanced interfacial properties.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): NSF HBCU-UP RIA-HRD1409918 and NSF-REU DMR-1358998
Faculty Advisor: Shaik Zainuddin, szainuddin@mytu.tuskegee.edu
Role: Most part of the research was done including modeling, generating codes for input scripts to run simulation, visualization techniques and data analyzing.