Microstructural and thermal properties of fluoroelastomer/carbon nanotube composites

Carbon nanotube (CNT) filled fluoroelastomer (FE) nanocomposites, were prepared and and their properties were compared with those of carbon black (CB) filled- or unfilled-FE. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) showed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of CNT/FE increased when compared to CB/FE or FE. For the CNT/FE and in comparison to others (in their glassy and rubbery states), the storage modulus is higher. However tan δ in the glassy state is lower, but higher in the rubbery state. The DSC and DMA results confirmed that the FE and filler/FE is partially crystalline. The results showed that the crystalline part of FE and CB/FE were mostly in the α-form. However, CNT together with shear and high temperature, induced γ-crystallinity in the FE. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results also confirmed the DSC and DMA results and showed that CNT caused an increase in the γ-crystallinity in FE and decreased α-phase crystallinity compared to others. XRD, DSC and DMA results for FE and filler/FE corroborated these observations.