Largely enhanced mechanical property of segregated carbon nanotube/poly(vinylidene fluoride) composites with high electromagnetic interference shielding performance

Publication date: Available online 11 August 2018Source: Composites Science and TechnologyAuthor(s): Wan-Cheng Yu, Tao Wang, Guo-Qiang Zhang, Zhi-Guo Wang, Hua-Mo Yin, Ding-Xiang Yan, Jia-Zhuang Xu, Zhong-Ming LiAbstractConductive polymer composites (CPCs) with segregated structure exhibit outstanding electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance at low filler loadings. However, the mechanical performance is compromised due to poor interfacial adhesion resulting from the selective distribution of conductive fillers. Herein, a simple and effective approach, i.e. solid-phase extrusion (SPE), was proposed to fabricate segregated carbon nanotube (CNT)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) composites with high mechanical performance. Morphology examination revealed that both the matrix and segregated conductive network were highly oriented along the extrusion direction under the forceful flow field of SPE. The resultant SPE composites showed an excellent electrical conductivity of 74.5 S/m and a high EMI shielding effectiveness of 36.8 dB with only 4 wt% CNTs. More notably, simultaneous enhancement of the strength and fracture toughness was achieved. Compared to the counterparts with conventional segregated structure, tensile strength and elongation at break of SPE composites were significantly increased by ∼100% and ∼900%, reaching 120–140 MPa and 60%, respectively. This work demonstrates a valuable approach to prepare high-performance CPCs for EMI shielding applicat...
Source: Composites Science and Technology - Category: Science Source Type: research