Creep and recovery of polypropylene/carbon nanotube composites

The creep and recovery of polypropylene/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites were studied. It was found for thermoplastics in general that the creep strain reduces with decreased temperature, and with enhanced content of carbon nanotubes. The incorporation of nanotubes improved the recovery property remarkably, especially at high temperature. The unrecovered creep strain of nanocomposites with content of 1 and 2.8 vol.% carbon nanotubes decreased by 53% and 73% compared to that of polymer matrix. To understand the mechanisms, the Burger’s model and Weibull distribution function were employed since the variations in the simulating parameters illustrated the influence of nano-fillers on the creep and recovery performance of the bulk matrix. To further study the recovery properties, the particular contribution of each Burger’s element to the total deformation was obtained and the recovery percentage was calculated. The time–temperature–superposition-principle was applied to predict the long-term creep behavior.