Improvement of thermal stability and gamma-rayabsorption in microwave absorbable poly(methylmethacrylate)/graphene nanoplatelets nanocomposite

Abstract

The graphene nanofiller (2 wt%) was dispersed in poly(methyl methacrylate) byin situ polymerization method. The optimum high frequency (microwave)absorption was evaluated at X-band due to changes in the scattering parameters(determined by using a vector network analyzer). The slight improvement hasbeen attained in gamma attenuation coefficient of the polymer nanocompositeby using gamma transmission technique. The addition of graphene nanoplatelets(2 wt%) resulted in a thermal improvement from 196.73 to 243.00 C (with 5%weight loss) in TGA analysis. The graphene nanoplatelets provided an optimumdecrease in scattering of the microwaves due to the elimination of the defectsand the prevention of the agglomeration of the graphene nanoplates. Theimprovement of microwave absorption (between 8 and 12 GHz) suggested thatthe nanocomposite was a suitable candidate as a microwave absorbing material.This multipurpose nanocomposite has provided thermal stability and it hasensured the optimum gamma-ray and microwave absorption depending on thedevelopment of the structural properties. The development of these physicalcharacteristics has enabled to improve the electrical conductivity as a result ofthe progress in the structural properties.