Development of a processing and properties map of carbon nanotube-reinforced thermoplastic fibres

The main objective of this research is to develop a processing map to determine the optimal nanotube content leading to the maximum elastic modulus according to the allowable viscosity limit in melt spinning. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and polyamide 12 (Rilsan\uae PA 12) were studied. The characterization of PA 12 with MWNT contents of 0 wt%, 0.1 wt%, 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt%, 2.0 wt% and 5.0 wt% was performed through differential calorimetry (DSC) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to assess the dispersion state of the nanotubes and relate those observations to the characterization results. The shear viscosity was investigated to identify optimal values for the production of fibres by melt spinning. MWNT contents below 5.0 wt% were selected to produce fibres according to the preliminary viscosity measurements, but further investigation of elongational and capillary viscosity will be needed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye