A comparative study of physico-mechanical and electrical properties of polymer-carbon nanofiber in wet and melt mixing methods

Commercially available aliphatic thermoplastic matrix, poly(ethylene methylacrylate) (EMA) has been mixed with carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in two different methods viz. wet mixing and melt compounding. Tensile property and dynamic mechanical analysis reveals that anisotropic nanofiber reinforced EMA showed superior mechanical properties and higher rigidity in melt blended composites than wet mixed one for improved dispersion of filler. Melt blending is technologically much feasible than wet mixing for cost effectiveness and emission of volatile organic components (VOC). Electron microscopic analysis implies that melt blending method offers very low electrical percolation of 1.4 wt% for effective dispersion of CNFs, which is very essential for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and electrical applications. Melt blended composites result 23.6 dB shielding effectiveness than 19.9 dB of solution mixed composites for only 9 wt% loading, which confer that CNFs reinforced high strength composites can be prepared by melt blending technique and suitable for commercial applications.