The Effect of Polymer Grafting of Polymers On Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWcNTs) On Glass Transition Behavior in Polymer Composites

The addition of single-walled carbon nanotubes to a polymer generally increases the Tg of the polymer slightly; which is certainly not a very unique or surprising phenomena. This shift is accompanied by a decrease in the heat capacity change at the glass transition, due to the formation of a rigid amorphous fraction. However, quite interestingly, a recent publication submitted by our group also indicates an increase in the heat capacity change at the glass transition temperature at high nanotube contents. In this work, these results will be presented along with any changes that are seen when a polymer of lower molecular weight than the matrix polymer is chemically bonded to the carbon nanotubes.