In this paper, an effective method for preparing poly (p-phenylene terephthalamide) -co- poly (dodecanedioyl) decylamine (PA10T/1012)/graphene oxide (GO) composites by pre-dispersion and one-step in situ polymerization was proposed for the first time. During the process of polycondensation, the condensation between the terminal amino groups of PA10T/1012 chains and the oxygen-containing functional groups of GO allowed nylon to be grafted onto graphene sheets. The effects of polymer grafting on the thermal and mechanical properties of (PA10T/1012)/GO composites were studied in detail. Due to the interaction between PA10T/1012 grafted graphene sheets and its matrix, GO is well dispersed in the PA10T/1012 matrix and physically entangled with it, forming a cross-linked network structure of polymer bridged graphene, thus obtaining enhanced tensile strength, tensile modulus and impact strength. More importantly, benefiting from the cross-linked network structure, the heat distortion temperature (HDT) of the composite is greatly increased from 77.3 °C to 144.2 °C. This in situ polycondensation method opens a new avenue to prepare polycondensate graphene-based composites with high strength and high heat distortion temperatures.
Keywords: GO; heat deformation temperature; in situ polymerization; semi-aromatic polyamide.