Comparison of Mechanical Properties of Various Types of Carbon Nanotubes in Polypropylene Fiber Available to Purchase

Textile fibers reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNT) show significant improvement in mechanical properties. Being lightweight and stronger than ordinary textile grade fibers, they can be used for different reinforcement applications. This paper reports a study on the comparison of the mechanical properties of composite fibers made of polypropylene (PP) and CNT obtained from different sources. A single walled nanotube from Carbolex USA, mutiwalled nanotubes from Iljin, Korea and DMSRDE Kanpur are used for the study. The composite fibers are made in two varieties viz. 0.5wt% and 1wt% concentration of CNT. It is observed that the mechanical properties, such as tenacity and modulus, increased with increased concentrations of the CNT irrespective of the brand and nature of the synthesis. The composite fibers made of multi walled CNT produced by DMSRDE give the best results in terms of spinnability and mechanical properties. The tenacity of the DMSRDE fibers is as high as ∼9gpd and modulus as high as 114gpd.