Influence of screw configuration, residence time, and specific mechanical energy in twin-screw extrusion of polycaprolactone/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites

Tobias Villmow (1) , Bernd Kretzschmar (1) , Petra Pötschke (1)

1 IPF - Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V.

Melt processing of thermoplastic-based nanocomposites is the favoured route to produce electrically conductive or electrostatic dissipative polymer composites containing carbon nanotubes (CNT). As these properties are desired at low filler fractions, a high degree of dispersion is required in order to benefit from the intrinsic CNT properties. This study discusses the influence of screw configuration, rotation speed, and throughput on the residence time and specific mechanical energy (SME) and the resulting macroscopic CNT dispersion in polycaprolactone (PCL) based masterbatches containing 7.5wt.% multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) using an intermeshing co-rotating twin-screw extruder Berstorff ZE25.

Mots clés: A. Carbon nanotubes; Nano composites; Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs); D. Optical microscopy; E. Extrusion

Domaines: Matériaux

Tobias Villmow, Bernd Kretzschmar, Petra Pötschke. Influence of screw configuration, residence time, and specific mechanical energy in twin-screw extrusion of polycaprolactone/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites. Composites Science and Technology, 2010, 70 (14), pp.2045. ⟨10.1016/j.compscitech.2010.07.021⟩. ⟨hal-00682264⟩