Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics and dynamic mechanical properties of poly(Butylene succinate) nanocomposites with different type of carbonaceous nanoparticles

In this article, the influence of type of carbon-based nanofillers such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), carbon-black (CB), and fullerene (F), on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was investigated. The particle geometry of the nanofillers was focused. The filler content was 0.5% and 1.0% by weight. The nanocomposites were processed in a laboratory twin screw compounder. The spherulitic morphology and crystal-growth were observed with a hot stage polarized optical microscopy. The structure of nanocomposites in the nanometer scale was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The influence of nanofillers on the mechanical properties of PBS nanocomposites was measured by using dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA). The investigation of non-isothermal crystallization kinetics was performed by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at four different cooling rates (5, 15, 25, and 50 degrees C/min). Analysis of melt crystallization data obtained was performed at a wide range of cooling rates with Avrami, Ozawa, and the combined Avrami-Ozawa models. The combined Avrami-Ozawa method could adequately describe the primary stage of non-isothermal crystallization of the neat PBS and PBS nanocomposites. It was shown that nanocomposites including CNT particles represented the highest nucleation ability in comparison to fullerene and carbon-black. Conversely, despite the fact that CNT exhibited a dominant heterogeneous nucleating efficiency, its performance in crystallization rate was contradicted. This interesting phenomenon indicated that the impeding effect of CNT particles during crystallization was stronger than its nucleation efficiency. The order of nucleation activity of each nanofiller from the lowest to the highest was as CNT>F>CB. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:2705-2721, 2018. (c) 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers