Study on the Thermal Properties of the Gamma-ray Irradiated EVA/MWCNT Nanocomposites

This paper describes the preparation of manufacturing a new nanocomposite material, which involves adding a multi walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) to improve thermal characteristics of poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA). We irradiated the prepared nanocomposites with doses of 50 kGy, 100 kGy and 200 kGy at a dose rate of $5kGy\;hr^{-1}$ and examined their thermal stability, activation energy and crosslink level by using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and gel fraction experiments. TGA results indicated that the samples with a MWCNT had higher Derivative Thermo Gravimetry (DTG) 2nd peak temperatures than those without a MWCNT. And activation energy of the samples reduced as the absorption dose and the MWCNT content increased. Finally, the gel fraction increased rapidly up to 100 kGy as total absorption dose increased, and then the growth rate of all samples was slowly increased from 100 kGy.