| Mechanism |
(1) Dispersion of CNTs in solvent (magnetic stirring, reflux, and ultrasonication), (2) mixing with polymer, (3) recovery of the nanocomposites (casting a film) |
Involves the melting of polymer pellets into viscous liquid with high shear forces application |
Involves mixing of nanofiller with monomers in a solvent, followed by in situ polymerisation |
The CNT dispersion is mixed with a given polymer latex to form homogenous CNT/latex dispersion |
| Advantages |
(1) Wider applicability, (2) better dispersion, (3) rigorous mixing in solvent |
(4) Wide applicability, (5) good dispersion, (6) low cost, (7) simplicity to facilitate large scale production |
(8) Widest applicability, (9) best dispersion, (10) enables grafting of polymer macromolecules onto the wall of CNTs, (11) allows preparation of nanocomposites with high CNT loading, (12) very good miscibility with polymer matrix |
(14) Possible in disperse CNTs in polymers produced by emulsion polymerisation, (15) facile process, (16) reproducible, and reliable, (17) allows incorporation of individual CNTs into a highly viscous polymer matrix |
| Disadvantages |
Slow evaporation lead to CNTs aggregation, (1) inapplicable for industrial scale processes, (2) low stability, (3) Residual solution |
(4) High shear force and temperature can deteriorate nanocomposite and polymer intrinsic properties, (5) poor dispersion, (6) large residual stress, (7) low interfacial bonding strength |
(9) Involve complex procedures and processing steps, (10) requires expensive reactants, (11) residual monomer, (12) large residual stress, (13) matrix strength decline |
(14) Mechanical properties of the material were not significantly improved |
