Toward mechanistic understanding the effect of aspect ratio of carbon nanotubes upon different properties of polyurethane/carbon nanotube nanocomposite foam

This study investigated the carbon nanotube's aspect ratio's influence on the nanocomposite foams' cellular structure and mechanical, acoustic absorption characteristics. The free-rising foaming process has been used for producing different flexible polyurethane (PU) foams embedded with other multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT's). Dynamic mechanical and thermal analysis, flow resistivity, and compressive mechanical measurements were achieved on the prepared samples. The acoustic absorption coefficient in a wide range of frequencies was estimated for the prepared PU/CNT foamed nanocomposite samples. Results indicated that by increasing the aspect ratio of MWCNT, the absorption coefficient's peak shifts toward the lower frequencies and improved sound absorption characteristics of PU foam in the low-frequency region. Moreover, the Young modulus of nanocomposite samples increases by increasing the aspect ratio of MWCNT's, whereas the stored strain energy or area under the stress–strain curve increases. Based on the obtained results, it is observed that the acoustic absorption coefficient of produced nanocomposite foams at the frequency of 800 Hz has been reported to have a 70% improvement in 2 cm samples and a 40% improvement in 3 cm samples compared to obtained results from pure PU foam.