Highly structured graphene polyethylene nanocomposites

This research presents an overview of the properties of highly structured, low density polyethylene-graphene nanoplatelets (LDPE-GnP). The influence of nanofiller content, size and processing conditions on the material properties have been investigated. Therefore, rheological and thermal nanocomposite properties were investigated. So-called dry-coating method has been used in order to prepare masterbatches which were thereafter extruded by means of single screw extruder resulting in a strong anisotropy in the extruded samples. Graphene nanoplatelets were oriented in the extrusion direction for all shear rates and flow histories investigated, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The rheological percolation was determined via nonlinear parameters to be around 11wt%. Thermal conductivity measurements revealed strong anisotropy with in-plane conductivity increasing with GnP content.