Synthesis and development of self-healing polymer and CNT/polymer composite

• Main Author: Nguyen, Thanh Tam.
• Other Authors: Liao Kin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Chemical engineering::Polymers and polymer manufacture
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42747
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Self-healing polymer has been gained increasing interest from many research groups. The self-healing polymer which makes advantage of supramolecular concept has demonstrated promising mechanical and self-healing properties. In this project, the self-healing polymer was first fabricated according to the paper by Cordier et al but varying the fabrication duration of 3, 4 and 6 hours. Composite of carbon nanotube (CNT) and self-healing polymer have also been synthesized with the duration of 3 hours. Mechanical testing was conducted to examine the Young Modulus and adhesive strength of the materials. The Young Modulus of the self-healing polymer decreases when increasing the synthesis duration. The Young Modulus is calculated to be 6.96, 1.75, and 1.56 GPa for 3, 4 and 6-hour sample respectively, and that of the blend CNT/polymer is 38.6 GPa. Furthermore, the adhesive strength follows the same trend as Young Modulus. The adhesive strengths of 3, 4 and 6-hour samples are 375, 100.5 and 70.45 KPa/m2 respectively. The CNT/polymer composite demonstrates the best adhesive strength which is 852.5 KPa/m2. Moreover, the CNT/polymer composite reveals an approximate 50-70% healing efficiency which is much better than 30-40% of the normal sample. It is concluded that CNT has enhanced the Young Modulus, adhesive strength and healing efficiency of the self-healing polymer.