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Now showing 1 - 10 of 22
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    Effect of additives on MWCNT dispersion and electrical percolation in polyamide 12 composites
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2017) Socher, Robert; Krause, Beate; Pötschke, Petra
    The aim of this study was to decrease the electrical percolation threshold of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a polyamide 12 matrix by the use of additives. Different kinds of additives were selected which either interact with the π-system of the MWCNTs (imidazolium based ionic liquid (IL) and perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA)) or improve the MWCNT wettability (cyclic butylene terephthalate, CBT). The composites were melt mixed using a DACA microcompounder. The electrical percolation threshold for PA12/MWCNT without additives, measured on compression molded plates, was found between 2.0 and 2.25 wt%. With all used additives, a significant reduction of the electrical percolation threshold could be achieved. Whereas the addition of IL and CBT resulted in MWCNT percolation at around 1.0 wt%, a slightly higher percolation threshold between 1.0 and 1.5 wt% was found for PTCDA as an additive. Interestingly, the electrical resistivity at higher loadings was decreased by nearly two decades when using CBT and one decade after application of PTCDA, whereas IL did not contribute to lower values in this range. In all cases macrodispersion as assessed by light microscopy was not improved and even worse as compared to non-modified composites. In summary, the results illustrate that these kinds of additives are able to improve the performance of PA12 based MWCNT nanocomposites.
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    Melt mixed composites of polypropylene with singlewalled carbon nanotubes for thermoelectric applications: Switching from p- to n-type behavior by additive addition
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2019) Pötschke; Petra; Krause, Beate; Luo, Jinji
    Composites were prepared with polypropylene (PP) as the matrix and singlewalled CNTs (SWCNTs) of the type TUBALL from OCSiAl Ltd. as the conducting component by melt processing in a small-scale twin-screw compounder. In order to switch the typical p-type behavior of such composites from positive Seebeck coefficients (S) into n-type behavior with negative Seebeck coefficients, a non-ionic surfactant polyoxyethylene 20 cetyl ether (Brij58) was used and compared with a PEG additive, which was shown previously to be able to induce such switching. For PP-2 wt% SWCNT composites Brij58 is shown to result in n-type composites. The negative S values (up to −48.2 µV/K) are not as high as in the case of previous results using PEG (−56.6 µV/K). However, due to the more pronounced effect of Brij58 on the electrical conductivity, the achieved power factors are higher and reach a maximum of 0.144 µW/(m·K2) compared to previous 0.078 µW/(m·K2) with PEG. Dispersion improvement depends on the type of SWCNTs obtained by using varied synthesis/treatment conditions. Solution prepared composites of PEG with SWCNTs also have negative S values, indicating the donation of electrons from PEG to the SWCNTs. However, such composites are brittle and not suitable as thermoelectric materials.
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    Development of joining methods for highly filled Graphite/PP composite based bipolar plates for fuel cells: Adhesive joining and welding
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2019) Rzeczkowski, P.; Lucia, M.; Müller, A.; Facklam, M.; Cohnen, A.; Schäfer, P.; Hopmann, C.; Hickmann, T.; Pötschke, Petra; Krause, Beate
    Novel material solutions for bipolar plates in fuel cells require adapted ways of joining and sealing technologies. Safe and life time enduring leak-tight contacts must be achieved by automatic processes using reasonable joint forces. A proper sealing should manage such challenges as good ageing properties, excellent leaktightness, high thermal conductivity and low gas permeability. Hence in this work, adhesive bonding and welding are considered as suitable methods, which can fulfill the requirements mentioned above. Adhesive systems seem to be more easy to apply than conventional sealing (hand layed-up rubber gaskets), e.g. with automatic dispensers. Additionally, the properties of an adhesive joint can be enhanced by a process-specific surface pre-treatment. This work focuses on the characterization of adhesive systems and their joints with highly filled graphite composites. Mechanical properties of the joints were characterized through lap-shear tests. The influence of ageing caused by humidity or acidic solvent at increased temperature on the bond line properties as well as neat adhesive was examined. The thermal conductivities of neat adhesives and through the entire joint were examined. In order to improve above conductivities, roughening, substrate pre-heating, post-curing and various contact pressure weights were applied. Plasma treatment was chosen as surface pre-treatment method for improving substrate's surface energy. An alternative to bonding is plastic welding, which does not require the use of sealants and adhesives. Based on former study of influences of filler content on the welding process using ultrasonic, hot plate or infrared welding, a welding method for joining the graphite compounds was derived.
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    Template-assisted colloidal self-assembly of macroscopic magnetic metasurfaces
    (Cambridge [u.a.] : Soc., 2016) Mayer, Martin; Tebbe, Moritz; Kuttner, Christian; Schnepf, Max J.; König, Tobias A. F.; Fery, Andreas
    We demonstrate a template-assisted colloidal self-assembly approach for magnetic metasurfaces on macroscopic areas. The choice of anisotropic colloidal particle geometry, assembly pattern and metallic film is based on rational design criteria, taking advantage of mirror-charge effects for gold nanorods placed on gold film. Monodisperse gold nanorods prepared utilizing wet-chemistry are arranged with high precision on wrinkled templates to form linear array-type assemblies and subsequently transferred to a thin gold film. Due to the obtained particle-to-film distance of 1.1 nm, the plasmonic mode of the nanorod is able to couple efficiently with the supporting metallic film, giving rise to a magnetic mode in the visible spectrum (721 nm). Conventional UV-vis-NIR measurements in close correlation with electromagnetic simulations provide evidence for the presence of a magnetic resonance on the macroscopic area. The herein presented scalable lithography-free fabrication process paves the road towards colloidal functional metasurfaces with an optical response in the effective magnetic permeability.
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    Influence of graphite and SEBS addition on thermal and electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2017) Krause, Beate; Cohnen, A.; Pötschke, Petra; Hickmann, T.; Koppler, D.; Proksch, B.; Kersting, T.; Hopmann, C.
    In this study, composites based on polypropylene (PP) and different graphite fillers were melt mixed using small scale microcompounder Xplore DSM15 as well as lab-scale co-rotating twin screw extruder Coperion ZSK26Mc. The measurements of the electrical and thermal conductivity as well as mechanical properties of the composites were performed on pressed plates. It was found that the addition of graphite powders having different particle size distributions leads to different increases of the thermal conductivity. For synthetic graphite, the PP composites filled with TIMCAL Timrex® KS500 reached the highest value of thermal conductivity of 0.52 W/(m·K) at 10 vol% loading, whereas this composite was not electrical conductive. Furthermore, the influence of a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) based impact modifier on the mechanical properties of PP filled with 80 wt% of different synthetic graphites was investigated. For that the proportion of SEBS in the PP component was varied systematically. The conductivities were influenced by the type of graphite and the content of impact modifier. The results indicate that the impact strength of the composite containing TIMCAL Timrex® KS300-1250 can be increased by approx. 100 % when replacing 50 wt% of the PP component by SEBS.
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    Electrical and thermal conductivity of polypropylene filled with combinations of carbon fillers
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2016) Krause, Beate; Pötschke, Petra
    The thermal and electrical conductivity of polymer composites filled with a low content up to 7.5 vol% of different carbon fillers (carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, graphite nanoplates) were investigated. It was found that the combination of two or three carbon fillers leads to an increase of thermal conductivity up to 193% which is higher than the sum of the effects of both fillers.
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    Evaluation of optical data gained by ARAMIS-measurement of abdominal wall movements for an anisotropic pattern design of stress-adapted hernia meshes produced by embroidery technology
    (London [u.a.] : Institute of Physics, 2017) Breier, A.; Bittrich, L.; Hahn, J.; Spickenheuer, A.
    For the sustainable repair of abdominal wall hernia the application of hernia meshes is required. One reason for the relapse of hernia after surgery is seen in an inadequate adaption of the mechanical properties of the mesh to the movements of the abdominal wall. Differences in the stiffness of the mesh and the abdominal tissue cause tension, friction and stress resulting in a deficient tissue response and subsequently in a recurrence of a hernia, preferentially in the marginal area of the mesh. Embroidery technology enables a targeted influence on the mechanical properties of the generated textile structure by a directed thread deposition. Textile parameters like stitch density, alignment and angle can be changed easily and locally in the embroidery pattern to generate a space-resolved mesh with mechanical properties adapted to the requirement of the surrounding tissue. To determine those requirements the movements of the abdominal wall and the resulting distortions need to be known. This study was conducted to gain optical data of the abdominal wall movements by non-invasive ARAMIS-measurement on 39 test persons to estimate direction and value of the major strains.
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    PP/SWCNT composites modified with ionic liquid
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2017) Krause, Beate; Predtechenskiy, M.; Ilin, E.; Pötschke, Petra
    Polypropylene composites filled with singlewalled carbon nanotubes TUBALL® (SWCNTs) were studied with regard to the effect of ionic liquid (IL) addition in different SWCNT:IL ratios (1:0.5 - 1:6). The incorporation of IL leads to a decrease of the electrical percolation threshold and already at 0.025 wt% SWCNT loading reduced resistivity values can be observed. However, the SWCNT macro dispersion, already relatively good without IL, was not affected by the IL incorporation. In addition, the nucleation effect of the SWCNT in polypropylene is not influenced when simultaneously adding IL, whereas the crystallization enthalpy slightly decreases with its addition.
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    Influence of microwave plasma treatment on the surface properties of carbon fibers and their adhesion in a polypropylene matrix
    (London [u.a.] : Institute of Physics, 2016) Scheffler, C.; Wölfel, E.; Förster, T.; Poitzsch, C.; Kotte, L.; Mäder, G.; Madsen, Bo; Biel, A.; Kusano, Y.; Lilholt, H.; Mikkelsen, L.P.; Mishnaevsky Jr., L.; Sørensen, B.F.
    A commercially available carbon fiber (CF) with an epoxy-based sizing (EP-sized CF) and an unsized CF have been plasma treated to study the effect on the fiber-matrix adhesion towards a polypropylene matrix. The EP-sized fiber was chosen because of its predictable low adhesion in a polypropylene (PP) matrix. The fibers have been modified using a microwave low-pressure O2/CO2/N2-gas plasma source (Cyrannus®) developed at IWS in a batch process. One aim of this study was the evaluation of parameters using high energies and short time periods in the plasma chamber to see the effect on mechanical performance of CF. These results will be the fundamental work for a planned continuous plasma modification line. The CF surface was characterized by determining the surface energies, single fiber tensile strength and XPS analysis. The adhesion behavior before and after plasma treatment was studied by single fiber pull-out test (SFPO) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was shown that the CO2- and O2-plasma increases the number of functional groups on the fiber surface during short time plasma treatment of 30 s. Carboxylic groups on the unsized CF surface resulting from O2-plasma treatment lead to an enhanced fiber-matrix adhesion, whereas the fiber strength was merely reduced.
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    Influence of mixing conditions on carbon nanotube shortening and curling in polycarbonate composites
    (Melville, NY : AIP, 2017) Krause, Beate; Carval, J.; Pötschke, Petra
    Polycarbonate composites containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs, 0.2-2.0 wt%) were melt mixed in small scale at different conditions of screw speed and mixing time to vary the specific mechanical energy (SME) input between 0.4 and 4.0 kWh/kg. Next to the electrical properties of compression molded plates and the MWCNT macrodispersion also the nanotube length and shape were analyzed. For this, the matrix of the composites with 0.75 wt% MWCNT loading was dissolved and the remaining nanotubes were investigated using TEM. It was found that with increasing SME input the number of remaining CNT agglomerates decreases. The MWCNT length decreased from initially about 1.4 micrometers towards 350 nanometers at a SME of 4 kWh/kg and the mean curling values were also reduced. The electrical percolation threshold increases with SME from about 0.4 wt% to 0.6 wt%.