Co-dispersion behavior and interactions of nano-ZrB2 and nano-SiC in a non-aqueous solvent

Abstract

The co-dispersion behavior and interactions of nano-ZrB2 and nano-SiC in a non-aqueous solvent were investigated. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and oleic acid were adopted as dispersants to study the stable co-dispersion mechanism in a non-aqueous solvent. Because N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) has a relatively high dielectric constant among non-aqueous solvents, NMP was introduced; NMP was found to exhibit a good affinity with dispersants. ZrB2 and SiC were mixed in NMP with or without dispersants. ZrB2 and SiC in a paste without dispersants aggregated due to the poor repulsion force by a double-layer overlapping. The paste with PVDF was more homogeneous than the paste with oleic acid. The steric hindrance effect of PVDF was evaluated using SEM image analysis. FT-IR analysis results show that PVDF and oleic acid were chemically adsorbed onto the particle surface. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.This work was supported by the National Space Laboratory program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0091916)