Radiation modification of physical-mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene with multiwall carbon nanotubes

Consideration has been given to the mechanisms of enhancing the nanocomposite microhardness of isotactic polypropylene having different content of multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNT) by means of electron irradiation (Ee=1.8 MeV) to absorption doses of 0.2, 05 and 1.0 ?Gy. The crystal structure and the microhardness of nanocomposites were investigated at nanotube concentrations 0.1, 0.005, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 wt.%. It is shown that the changes in the degree of polymeric matrix crystallinity, lattice parameters, microhardness give evidence for the conjugation between the composite components during their irradiation. In this case, of importance are the joints of inner layers of multiwall CNT that contribute to the improvement in the strength properties of polymer nanocomposites.