APPLYING SSA TO STUDYING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PEZr-g-MAH Y PEZr-g-MAH/4-Ampy NANOCOMPOSITES AND MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES

Abstract

In the following work, synthesized polyethylene nanocomposites combined with a metallocene zirconium catalyst (PEZr) with 1 and 3% multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were prepared. Maleic anhydride functionalized polyethylene nanocomposites (PEZr-g-MAH) and 4-aminopyridine functionalized polyethylene (PEZr-g-MAH / 4ampy) with 1% NTsC were also prepared. All nanocomposites were characterized by: Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC); Self-nucleation (SN) and Thermal Fractionation by Successive Self-nucleation and annealing (SSA) experiments. The FTIR spectrum of the PEZr-g-MAH/1% NTsC nanocomposite showed displacement of some absorption bands that increased a higher wave of numbers and that could occurred due to the interaction between the MWCNT and the carbonyl group of the anhydride and acid function of functionalized PE; while, in the PEZr-g-MAH / 4Ampy / 1% NTsC nanocomposite, the intensive increment of the bands at 1097 and 1019 cm-1 was visualized. Non-isothermal DSC scans demonstrated the property of nanotubes to act as nucleating agents on the matrix of all the polymers studied. The study by SSA, together with the evaluation of the melting peaks using the software Peakfit 4.12, indicates that a redistribution of the lamellar thicknesses of the fraction with the highest melting temperature, speculating that it is possible the interactions of the π-π type between the pairs of free electrons of the pyridine ring of 4-Ampy and the electron cloud of MWCNTs.