Nanofiller dispersing, drawn orientation, and mechanical properties of polymer‐based composites via organo‐modification of single‐walled carbon nanotubes obtained by two‐types of manufacturing processes

Abstract The filler dispersibility, structural changes by drawing, and mechanical properties of polymer‐based composites containing two types of organo‐modified single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) fabricated using different methods were investigated. In this study, the SWCNTs manufactured by super‐growth chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and improved arc discharge (iAD) were used. Further, they were surface‐modified with fluorinated phosphonic acid, and the composites were prepared with crystalline fluoropolymer by melt compounding. By introducing a very small amount of fluorinated phosphonic acid as a dispersion aid, jet‐black composites with uniform dispersibility were obtained. In the high‐temperature drawing process, the aggregated SWCNTs in the composites were uniaxially oriented along the drawing direction. The crystallinity and mechanical properties of the composites were significantly improved by the composite preparation with SWCNTs and their drawing orientation. The SWCNTs derived from the super‐growth CVD method exhibited excellent dispersibility in the matrix polymer, and the composite containing SWCNTs derived from iAD method had excellent mechanical properties.