Polyetherimide foams filled with low content of graphene nanoplatelets prepared by scCO2 dissolution

Polyetherimide (PEI) foams with graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) were prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) dissolution. Foam precursors were prepared by melt-mixing PEI with variable amounts of ultrasonicated GnP (0.1–2.0 wt %) and foamed by one-step scCO2 foaming. While the addition of GnP...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Abbasi, Hooman|||0000-0001-5167-4126, Antunes, Marcelo de Sousa Pais|||0000-0001-5911-1969, Velasco Perero, José Ignacio|||0000-0003-0331-5270
Format: article
Publication Date:2019
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repository:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/129142
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/129142
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym11020328
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Foamed materials
Graphene
Ultrasonic waves
Electric conductivity
Carbon dioxide
Polyetherimide foams
Multifunctional foams
Ultrasonication
scCO2
Electrical conductivity
Ultrasons
Materials escumosos
Grafè
Conductivitat elèctrica
Anhídrid carbònic
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria dels materials
Description
Summary:Polyetherimide (PEI) foams with graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) were prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) dissolution. Foam precursors were prepared by melt-mixing PEI with variable amounts of ultrasonicated GnP (0.1–2.0 wt %) and foamed by one-step scCO2 foaming. While the addition of GnP did not significantly modify the cellular structure of the foams, melt-mixing and foaming induced a better dispersion of GnP throughout the foams. There were minor changes in the degradation behaviour of the foams with adding GnP. Although the residue resulting from burning increased with augmenting the amount of GnP, foams showed a slight acceleration in their primary stages of degradation with increasing GnP content. A clear increasing trend was observed for the normalized storage modulus of the foams with incrementing density. The electrical conductivity of the foams significantly improved by approximately six orders of magnitude with only adding 1.5 wt % of GnP, related to an improved dispersion of GnP through a combination of ultrasonication, melt-mixing and one-step foaming, leading to the formation of a more effective GnP conductive network. As a result of their final combined properties, PEI-GnP foams could find use in applications such as electrostatic discharge (ESD) or electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding