Effect of terephthalic acid functionalized graphene oxide on the molecular interaction, and mechanical and thermal properties of Hytrel polymer.

We report the effect of incorporating functionalized graphene oxide (terephthalic acid functionalized GO; GO- g -TPA) on the thermal and mechanical properties of Hytrel (HTL; a thermoplastic elastomeric polymer). Initially, the synthesis of GO- g -TPA was performed via chemical methods and subsequently characterized using various spectroscopic and imaging techniques. The melt mixing technique was executed in preparing the nanocomposites of HTL/GO and HTL/GO- g -TPA. An excellent GO dispersion was observed in the HTL polymeric matrix, which could be attributed to the significant effect of hydrogen bonding and π-π interaction between the HTL and GO- g -TPA. As a result of incorporating GO and GO- g -TPA into the HTL matrix, the overall mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites were significantly improved. For the HTL/5 wt% GO- g -TPA nanocomposite, the tensile strength and storage modulus significantly increased by 61% and 224%, respectively. In addition, the melting temperature and crystalline temperature are increased by a notable 20 °C and 21 °C, respectively. Thus, the current study found that by improving the dispersion ability of the GO sheets, the properties of the HTL can be significantly enhanced and the prepared composite materials can be relevant for a wide range of applications including sports goods, hose jackets, wire and cable jackets, electronics, fluid power, sheeting belting seals, and footwear, etc.