Oriented arrangement of carbon black particles achieved via in situ polymerization and microfibrillation process

Effective dispersion and oriented arrangement of filler particles are crucial to improve the efficiency of filler for improving the mechanical and functional performance of fiber materials. However, how to control the alignment of isotropic (spherical) particles in the melt spinning process is still a challenge. In this work, the distribution of carbon black (CB) particles in Polymethyl methacrylate/polyacrylate@modified carbon black (PMMA/PAcr@MCB) composite were investigated. The results show that the effective dispersion and oriented arrangement of CB particles were achieved when CB particles were encapsulated in PAcr microspheres firstly and then blended with PMMA via in situ microfibrillation. This is ascribed to the distribution of CB particles was confined in the PAcr microfibril phase and rearranged into oriented arrangement after stretching process. Compared to neat PMMA, the elongation at break and fracture energy of PMMA/PAcr@MCB were increased by ~380% and 438%, respectively. Theses increasements are attributable to the high aspect ratio and small diameter of PAcr@MCB microfibrils. The findings in this work provide new enlighten to control the alignment of isotropic particles to improve filler efficiency and avoid big aggregation for preparing materials like fine fibers or thin films.