BisGMA-polyvinylpyrrolidone blend based nanocomposites reinforced with chitosan grafted f-multiwalled carbon nanotubes

In this work, initially a non-destroyable surface grafting of acid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) with biopolymer chitosan (CS) was carried out using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent via the controlled covalent deposition method which was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Then, BisGMA (bisphenol-A glycidyldimethacrylate)-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) blend was prepared (50: 50 wt%) by a simple sonication method. The CS grafted f-MWCNTs (CS/f-MWCNTs) were finally dispersed in BisGMA-PVP blend (BGP(50)) system in different compositions i.e. 0, 2, 5 and 7 wt% and pressed into molds for the fabrication of reinforced nanocomposites which were characterized by SEM. Nanocomposites reinforced with 2 wt% raw MWCNTs and acid f-MWCNTs were also fabricated and their properties were studied in detail. The results of comparative study report lower values of the investigated properties in nanocomposites with 2 wt% raw and f-MWCNTs than the one with 2 wt% CS/f-MWCNTs proving it to be a better reinforcing nanofiller. Further, the mechanical behavior of the nanocomposites with various CS/f-MWCNTs content showed a dramatic increase in Young's Modulus, tensile strength, impact strength and hardness along with improved dynamic mechanical, thermal and electrical properties at 5 wt% content of CS/f-MWCNTs. The addition of CS/f-MWCNTs also resulted in reduced corrosion and swelling properties. Thus, the fabricated nanocomposites with optimum nanofiller content could serve as low cost and light weight structural, thermal and electrical materials compatible in various corrosive and solvent based environments. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).