• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.372-376
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• 2012

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are considered as one of ideal nano-fillers in the field of composites with their excellent electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Therefore CNT composites are increasingly used in fabricating conductive materials, structural materials with high strength and low weight, and multifunctional materials. The main problem of the CNT composites is difficulty in the dispersion of CNT in the polymer matrix. In this study multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were pretreated by the physical process utilizing a wrapping method. After the pretreatment polymer/MWNT nanocomposites were prepared by melt processing. The effect of functionalization MWNT by wrapping with styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) on the mechanical and electrical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin (ABS)/MWNT composites was studied by comparing the properties of ABS mixed with the neat MWNT. Electrical and mechanical properties of ABS/MWNT nanocomposites were studied as a function of the functionalization and content of MWNT. The tensile strength of the ABS/MWNT nanocomposites increased, but the impact strength decreased. The polymer wrapping in ABS system has little effect on the improvement of electrical properties.