Effect of molybdenum disulfide functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes based hybrid on morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy nanocomposites

Abstract Three‐dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) functionalized MWCNTs hybrid nanoparticles were synthesized using in‐situ hydrothermal reaction. Two types of hybrids, MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐1 and MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 with MWCNTs to MoS 2 precursor weight ratios 1:2 and 1:1 respectively were prepared with varying degrees of hybridization and the effects of their incorporation on tensile strength and fracture toughness properties of epoxies were investigated. Epoxy/MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 nanocomposites showed exceptional mechanical properties due to their improved dispersion, constrained chain mobility and excellent interfacial interactions. MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 nanocomposites showed maximum improvement of tensile strength by 28.52% at 0.5 wt% nanofiller concentration and the highest improvements in fracture toughness by 172% at 0.2 wt% nanofiller concentration. The excellent enhancement of fracture toughness properties was due to the synergic effect of MoS 2 /MWCNTs hybrid nanoparticles due to the crack pinning and bifurcation properties of MoS 2 nanoparticles along with the pull‐out and crack bridging mechanisms of MWCNTs as observed in morphological analysis of fractures nanocomposites. The incorporation of 0.2 wt% of MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 increased the degradation temperatures of epoxy from 591 to 796°C at 95% weight loss due to the improved physical barrier effect. Highlights MoS 2 /MWCNTs nanoparticles were synthesized using in‐situ hydrothermal reaction 0.5 wt% MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 incorporated epoxies showed highest tensile strength 0.2 wt% MoS 2 /MWCNTs‐2 incorporated epoxy composites show improved K 1c value Incorporation of MoS 2 /MWCNTs improved the thermal stability of epoxy Synergistic effect of nanocomposite due to crack pinning, bifurcation & bridging