Nano-dynamic mechanical and thermal responses of single-walled carbon nanotubes reinforced polymer nanocomposite thinfilms

In recent years, nanocomposites are of great interest in various engineering applications such as lightweight, high-strength, low-density, anti-static coatings and corrosion resistant coatings due to their excellent mechanical, electrical and chemical properties. In this study, we demonstrated the preparation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) reinforced chitosan polymer nanocomposite thinfilms via solution-casting method and examined their nano-dynamic mechanical (nano-DMA) and thermal behaviors. The surface morphology and crystalline nature of nanocomposite were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The presence of functional groups and molecular interactions between SWCNT and chitosan were further studied by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. From the thermo-gravimetric study, it is observed that the SWCNT reinforced chitosan nanocomposite shows a superior heat-barrier property and an improved thermal stability. Nano-DMA results revealed that the SWCNT reinforced chitosan thinfilm has superior storage modulus of ∼8 GPa indicating the storage capacity of elastic energy in deformation process. The observed loss modulus further confirms the viscous behavior of nanocomposite. Our experimental results suggested that SWCNT reinforced chitosan based nanocomposites could be a potential candidate for the various mechanical engineering and industrial thermal applications.