Synergistic effect on dispersion, thermal conductivity and mechanical performance of pyrene modified boron nitride nanotubes with Al2O3/epoxy composites

Due to the intrinsic attributes of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT), its assimilation into composite materials displays an immense potential for thermal performance augmentation. However, the presence of Van der Waals forces and hydrophobicity of BNNT causing interfacial incompatibility with the polymeric matrix greatly hinders its practical applications. This instigates a dispersion dilemma and subsequent agglomeration of BNNT in the polymer matrix, which massively hampers the thermal performance of the polymer composites. In this respect, we here present a facile BNNT modification strategy; deposition of amine-attached pyrene (PAA) on the BNNT surface through a mild sonication process. The presence of amine in the pyrene molecules reduces the surface tension of PAA deposited BNNT (BNNT-PAA) allowing it to be readily dispersed in the various solvents even at the high concentrations. BNNT-PAA was added as a co-filler along with a primary filler (Al2O3) in the epoxy resin. The formed epoxy composites presented an improvement of as much as 33.1 % in tensile strain and 175.8 % in tensile stress with the addition of 1 wt% of BNNT-PAA, while the thermal conductivity of vertical direction was enhanced as high as 62.3 %, possibly due to the constructed BNNT thermal conducting channels among alumina particles.