Improved dispersion of carbon black in ABS/PANI blend through its acid functionalization and addition of nanoclay, thereby enhancing mechanical and thermal properties

This work presents a unique type of hybrid composite which shows a significant improvement in mechanical and thermal properties than that of its pristine form of filler. The acid functionalization of carbon black and its use as filler in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/polyaniline (PANI) blend have resulted in promising improvement in mechanical and thermal properties. With the acid-functionalized carbon black when used as filler in the same blend with a compatibilizer (nanoclay), the blend exhibits further enhancement in tensile strength, modulus and thermal stability of the composite. Finally, with a good compatibilization using nanoclay (NC), the hybrid composite have shown 58% improvement in tensile strength and improvement in thermal decomposition temperature by around 70 °C. In addition, NC assisted for the transformation of unstable interaction between ABS and PANI to more stable configuration by assisting PANI to homogeneously incorporate to the polymer matrix, thereby increases the degradation onset temperature in TGA, up to 460 °C.