Thermal, electrical characteristics and morphology of poly(Ethylene-Co-Ethyl Acrylate)/CNT nanocomposites

In this study, nanocomposites with binary elements of poly (ethylene-co-ethyl acrylate)/carbon nanotube (EEA/CNT) were prepared so that their thermal and electrical characteristics and morphology, not reported in any literature, could be measured. For the thermal characteristics, their thermal degradation and activation energy were measured by using the thermogram (TG) curve, which was obtained by a heating from 100deg C to 600degC with a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In addition, after maintaining a thermal equilibrium at each temperature of 25degC, 50degC, 75degC, 100degC, 125degC and 150degC, their thermoluminescence was measured for 20 minutes. Then, the volume resistivity of EEA/CNT was measured by means of ASTM D991. Morphology of EEA/CNT was measured at 15 kV. First, with the TGA experiments, the thermal degradation temperatures of the specimens containing a CNT were found to shift to a higher temperature region, while activation energy values between 204 kJ/mol and 213 kJ/mol were obtained. Secondly, with the thermoluminescence experiment, the specimens containing a CNT were found to show a much smaller thermoluminescence than the specimens without a CNT. Thirdly, the volume resistivity was lowered as the CNT content increased, which is not enough to create a semiconductivity. This is thought to reveal that the melting blend method has a worse dispersibility than the solution method. Lastly, with the measurements of the fractured surfaces from the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) experiment, it was observed that the CNT was dispersed in the form of many lumps as its content increased.