Effects of tungsten disulphide nanotubes and glutaric acid on the thermal and mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a biocompatible, semi-crystalline and water soluble polymer with moderate tensile properties. To improve the thermal and mechanical properties of PVA, as well as to reduce water uptake, structural modification by glutaric acid (GA) and nanoparticle reinforcement by tungsten disulphide nanotubes (WSNTs) were used to prepare PVA based composites. We observed a significant drop in the water uptake of GA crosslinked PVA, an indication of the formation of a network. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was applied to confirm the presence of covalent bonds formed during the crosslinking. Crosslinked PVA and composites are found to have higher thermal stability and mechanical properties compared to their un-crosslinked counterparts. Tensile tests show that the presence of WSNTs increases the strength (up to 25%), modulus (up to 120%) and toughness (up to 80%) of the pristine as well as the crosslinked PVA.