In the blending process of the composites, the clustering of MWCNTs under high concentration leads to poor dispersion and difficult complexing with luminescent elements. Cyanate ester resins (CERs) have a brittle network structure when cured caused by a conjugation effect that forms a strong emission peak in the ultraviolet-visible region and quenches the luminescent elements of the fluorescent nanofillers. In this paper, by anchoring of the Eu complex (Eu(TTA)3Phen, ETP) on a surface of longitudinal split unzipped carbon nanotubes (uMWCNTs); fluorescent nanoparticles were prepared as ETP anchor unzipper carbon nanotubes (ETP-uCNTs). Dicyanate ester of bisphenol E (CER-E monomer) is cured to polycyanurate at a lower temperature to achieve a high conversion, promoting a uniform blend with ETP-uCNTs, providing the fluorescence environment with high color purity. Studies show the ETP-uCNTs solve the agglomeration of MWCNTs and improve the interface binding ability. Compared with the pure CER-E, the tensile strength, bending strength and impact strength of CER-E/0.8 wt.% ETP-uCNT hybrid nanocomposites are increased by 94.6%, 92.8% and 101.1%, respectively. The carbon residue rate of CER-E/ETP-uCNTs is up to 47.14% at 800 °C, the temperature of the maximum reaction rate decreases by 67.81 °C, and the partial absorption of ultraviolet light is realized between 200 and 400 nm.
Keywords: Eu complex; carbon nanotubes; cyanate ester resin; fluorescence; mechanical properties.