Synthesis and Study of the Thermal and Rheological Behavior of Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced New Epoxy Nanocomposite

In this paper, the synthesis of a new trifunctional sulfur and phosphorus epoxy architecture based on hydroxy diphenyl sulfone bis para-ester phosphoric triglycidyl ether (TGEHDSEP) is presented. The viscometric properties of the synthesized resin using an Ubbelohde type capillary viscometer were investigated and were thermally crosslinked using the hardener methylene dianiline (MDA). The viscosity values of the new trifunctional epoxy resin TGEHDSEP increased as the pre-polymer mass concentrations increased, as expected, and as the sample temperature increased, the viscosity of the system (TGEHDSEP/ethanol) decreased. A new nanocomposite composed of the prepared resin, TGEHDSEP, and carbon nanotubes (CNT) was developed using a variety of formulations to optimize the rheological behavior and thermal stability of the epoxy matrix. The effect of the CNT filler in admixture with the TGEHDSEP/MDA system in this series of formulations on the nanocomposites rheological properties was studied. The rheological and thermal properties of the formulated materials were assessed using the RHM01-RD Haaks rheometer and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in the dynamic regime, respectively. The results showed that the G′ (storage modulus) and G′′ (loss modulus) of various nanocomposites increase as the filler CNT content increases. Over the entire frequency range studied, the storage modulus G′ is much higher than the loss modulus G′′ for methylene–dianiline crosslinked nanocomposites formulated with varying percentages of CNT. The storage modulus G′ of all prepared nanocomposites increases as the percentage of CNTs increases. These results also show that the addition of carbon nanotubes to the epoxy matrix improves its thermal properties significantly. The morphology of the prepared nanocomposites, analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), varies significantly with the percentage of carbon nanotube filler incorporated into the studied matrix, and the carbon nanotube filler is uniformly distributed in this epoxy resin. Finally, we utilized the Materials Studio software package to investigate the mechanical and thermal conductivity properties of TGEHDSP and single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT). The material exhibited the following mechanical properties: Young's modulus: 7.1508 GPa, shear modulus: 2.6169 GPa, bulk modulus: 8.9116 GPa, Poisson's ratio: 0.3663. Additionally, its compressibility is approximately 105.9918 TPa. On the other hand, the epoxy resin, TGEHDSP, performs relatively well as a heat conductor among epoxy-based materials, while SWCNT's high thermal conductivity highlights its exceptional heat transfer capabilities, characteristic of nanoscale structures.