Enhanced mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of styrene–butadiene rubber reinforced with polyvinylpyrrolidone-modified graphene oxide

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2016-06, Vol.51 (12), p.5724-5737
• Main Authors: Yin, Biao, Wang, Jingyi, Jia, Hongbing, He, Junkuan, Zhang, Xumin, Xu, Zhaodong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Butadiene; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Dynamic mechanical properties; Dynamic stability; Glass transition temperature; Graphene; Graphite; Heat conductivity; Heat transfer; Hydrogen; Hydrogen bonds; Latex; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Nanocomposites; Original Paper; Oxides; Polymer matrix composites; Polymer Sciences; Polyvinylpyrrolidone; Rubber; Scanning electron microscopy; Solid Mechanics; Storage modulus; Strong interactions (field theory); Styrenes; Surface treatment; Tear strength; Thermal conductivity; Thermal stability; Toluene; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-016-9874-y

A facile non-covalent surface treatment method is reported in this paper to modify graphene oxide (GO) sheets with the assistance of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The PVP-modified GO (PGO) was further adopted to fabricate PGO/styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) nano-composites through the latex compounding method. The properties of PGO were carefully investigated and interaction between GO and PVP molecules was confirmed. The mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical properties, thermal stability, thermal conductivity as well as swelling properties of the PGO/SBR nano-composites were thoroughly studied. It was confirmed that PVP molecules could have strong interaction with GO via hydrogen bond; thus, the PGO significantly improved the strength of SBR matrix, e.g., 517 and 387 % increase in tensile strength and tear strength, respectively, with the presence of only 5 phr (parts per hundred rubber) PGO in the nano-composite. The presence of PGO had also greatly reduced the glass transition temperature (T g) and enhanced the storage modulus of SBR matrix in the nano-composites. Meanwhile, the maximum heat decomposition temperature (T ₘₐₓ) was increased by 23.6 °C; equilibrium solvent uptake in toluene was reduced by 41 % and thermal conductivity was increased by 30 %. All the observations indicated that PVP modification of GO can achieve excellent exfoliation and dispersion of GO in the SBR matrix. These findings were further supported by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy measurements.