CARBON NANOSTRUCTURE PREBLENDS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

摘要

A method for preparing a “preblend” of nano-structured carbon, such as nanotubes, fullerenes, or graphene, and a particulate solid, such as carbon black, graphitic particles or glassy carbon involving wet-mixing and followed by optional drying to remove the liquid medium. The preblend may be in the form of a core-shell powder material with the nano-structured carbon as the shell on the particulate solid core. The preblend may provide particularly improved dispersion of single-wall nanotubes in ethylene-α-olefin elastomer compositions, resulting in improved reinforcement from the nanotubes. The improved elastomer compositions may show simultaneous improvement in both modulus and in elongation at break. The elastomer compositions may be formed into useful rubber articles.

主权项

1. A method for dispersing carbon nanostructures in a polymer comprising:
wet-mixing in a liquid medium a blend comprising said carbon nanostructures and a particulate solid; drying said blend to form a preblend of the carbon nanostructures and the particulate suitable for adding to a polymer in a conventional compounding process; wherein said preblend forms a core-shell structure comprising a shell of said carbon nanostructures coating a core comprising a particle of said particulate solid; and wherein said particular solid is selected from the group consisting of carbon black and polymer beads.