Novel electromagnetic interference shield developed by gamma irradiation of strengthened WPE/WEPDM thermoplastic elastomer With carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have established wide attention as strengthened fillers because of their excellent several characters. Nano polymers based on thermoplastic elastomer composed of waste polyethylene (WPE)/Waste ethylene propylene diene monomer (WEPDM) blended equally 50/50 wt. % and strengthened with different concentrations of CNT (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5%) were fabricated via melt mixing. The prepared specimens were exposed to various gamma radiation doses, namely 50 and 100 kGy to evaluate the impact of radiation on the Nano polymers structure. FTIR and XRD were used to track the structure and crystallinity changes of thermoplastic elastomer with CNT filling. Mechanical features including tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (E%), modulus of elasticity (EM) and hardness (Shore D) of the unirradiated and irradiated samples were evaluated. Furthermore, the dynamic mechanical properties named storage (E′) and loss modulus as well as tan delta (δ) of the fabricated specimens were measured. TGA and also DSC monitored the thermal decomposition and the melting point alterations caused by CNT reinforcement. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) was studied for all fabricated samples as an application of shielding for radio frequency signals. In general, all the studied parameters revealed improvements of thermoplastic elastomer properties via CNT interference. Subsequent reinforcement of CNT concentrations into WPE/WEPDM produced higher shielding for radio frequency signals. Furthermore, applied gamma radiation doses improved the shielding properties of the fabricated nanocomposites.