Effect of dispersing nano-materials into structural adhesive on the electrical and mechanical properties

This paper highlights a systematic investigation (related to percentage addition of solvents) of finding the appropriate solvent to reduce the viscosity of the structural grade of resin (AV138M) within castable range to effectively disperse the nano-fillers (Carbon Nano Powder - CNP and Multi Walled Carbon Nano Tubes - MWCNT). AV138M + HY998/CNP and AV138 + HY998/MWCNT were cast within-process degassing using a vacuum pump of capacity 4 torr. High energy sonic waves (27000 kHz) were used for dispersion. Morphological studies were undertaken to analyze the uniformity in dispersion of nano-fillers. The cured specimens were subjected to: Resistivity measurements using a Resistivity Meter, Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) using a Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Tensile properties using UTM. The properties have been determined for the nanocomposites with different wt % of the fillers. It has been found that for 0.6 wt % of filler (CNP / MWCNT), there is an increase in UTS of 10 times for MWCNT compared to CNP; for 1.0 wt % of the fillers, the Tg improved by 10 ºC for MWCNT and by 4 ºC for CNP when compared with neat resin. Both CNP and MWCNT showed drop in electrical resistivity of the neat resin; a drop to the extent of 103 has been achieved with 1 wt % MWCNT and the same was 2 wt % in case of CNP.