Preparation of Polyaniline Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposites Films/Discs and Characterization of their Electrical, Mechanical and Damping Properties

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to create a sensor-actuator that could sense strain and also act similar to constrained viscoelastic material without corresponding weight addition. Frit compression method was first used to make controlled thickness of polyaniline/multi-wall carbon nanotube (PANI/MWCNT) nanocomposite films/discs. MWCNT was found to enhance both the electrical conductivity and the thermal stability properties of the nanocomposite films, and the PANI increased the Young’s modulus and hardness of the films/discs as evidenced by the nanoindentation test. Simultaneous DSC-TGA measurements showed that the PANI/22%MWCNT nanocomposites improved their thermal stability by about 50 °C compared with their pure components. Cantilever beam free vibration tests were adopted to characterize the sample damping properties. It was found that location of the sample vis-á-vis the location of the cantilever beam’s fixed support played a very important part in the damping ratio, as expected. Preliminary tests showed that the damping ratio of PANI/11%MWCNT was 0.00656 when the aluminum beam was clamped to the free, uncovered end. However, the damping ratio nearly tripled when the beam was clamped at the PANI/MWCNT covered end. By covering both sides of aluminum beam with the sample, the damping ratio reached a value of 0.072, which is 18.85 times higher than for the single sided coverage