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Performance Enhancement of UHMWPE with Surface Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes/Graphite

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Structural Integrity Assessment

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

Abstract

Carbon nanostructures have been effectively used to reinforce polymers due to their excellent mechanical properties. This paper investigates the thermal and mechanical properties of ultra-high-molecular weight polyethylene UHMWPE nanocomposites reinforced with acid-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and graphite. The UHMWPE nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing at 200 °C. The test specimens were compression moulded at 215 °C and 7.36 MPa and mechanical and thermal properties were studied with respect to nanofiller content. Evaluation of mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites showed that the addition of up to 1% MWCNT to the UHMWPE significantly improved the tensile and flexural properties by 30%. In the case of graphite, tensile properties decreased while flexural property increased. While the thermal properties such as specific enthalpy and percentage of crystallinity increased with nanofiller content. These observed results are attributed to the nanofiller content as well as the dispersion of the nanofiller in the polymer, which was substantiated by morphological analysis using transmission electron microscopy. However, at higher concentration of carbon nanofillers, both mechanical and thermal properties showed a slight decline due to the formation of agglomerates.

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Abbreviations

U:

Unfilled UHMWPE

UG-0.5:

UHMWPE with 0.5 wt% of graphite

UG-1:

UHMWPE with 1 wt% of graphite

UG-1.5:

UHMWPE with 1.5 wt% of graphite

UC-0.5:

UHMWPE with 0.5 wt% of carbon nanotube

UC-1:

UHMWPE with 1 wt% of carbon nanotube

UC-1.5:

UHMWPE with 1.5 wt% of carbon nanotube

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the support of Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) extended to CoE-AMGT, Amrita University through their fast grant, CBPST, Kochi, India and STIC, Kochi, India for the conduct of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India

    P. Sarath Kumar, K. Sai Narendra Reddy & D. Unnikrishnan

  2. Centre of Excellence in Advanced Materials and Green Technologies (CoE – AMGT), Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India

    P. Sarath Kumar & Meera Balachandran

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India

    Meera Balachandran

Authors
  1. P. Sarath Kumar
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  2. K. Sai Narendra Reddy
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  3. D. Unnikrishnan
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  4. Meera Balachandran
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meera Balachandran .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Raghu V. Prakash

  2. Reactor Design Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. Suresh Kumar

  3. Materials Development and Technology Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    Atikukke Nagesha

  4. Materials Development and Technology Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    Gomathy Sasikala

  5. Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    Arun Kumar Bhaduri

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Sarath Kumar, P., Sai Narendra Reddy, K., Unnikrishnan, D., Balachandran, M. (2020). Performance Enhancement of UHMWPE with Surface Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes/Graphite. In: Prakash, R., Suresh Kumar, R., Nagesha, A., Sasikala, G., Bhaduri, A. (eds) Structural Integrity Assessment. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8767-8_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8767-8_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-8766-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8767-8

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