| Alignment of vapor grown carbon nano-reinforced polyethylene composites was performed using conventional extrusion processing methods. The alignment of the nanofibers within polyethylene, PE; the matrix, produced a material with anisotropic behavior.; Mechanical and thermo-physical properties of the nanocomposite were studied. Enhancements in mechanical properties were investigated for pure PE, misaligned, and aligned specimens for stress versus strain, maximum load, and Young's modulus as high as 185, 273, and 80%, respectively. In fact, toughness was considerably high for the 10 rpm specimen when compared to other samples of different windup speeds.; Thermo-physical studies were performed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). DSC scans showed crystal rearrangements due to induced crystallization caused by the alignment in the nanocomposite material. TGA demonstrated no effect in % weight loss from humidity adherence, and thermal stability was produced from the alignment and nanofiber content in the nanocomposite. |
