Characterization of carbon nanotubes reinforced PVOH polymer composites added with calcined clam shells with the presence of electron beam irradiation

The objective of this research is to scrutinize the effect of electron beam irradiation and filler (calcined clam shell and carbon nanotube) addition on the characteristics of the resulting polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) blends. Herein, PVOH/calcined clam shells/carbon nanotube (CNT) blends were prepared by solution casting, which followed by electron beam irradiation treatment at the irradiation dosage of 10 and 30 kGy. It was revealed that the addition of CNT and calcined clam shell enhances the tensile strength and elongation at break at 10 kGy irradiation dosage. On the other hand, when 30 kGy irradiation was applied on PVOH blends, high loading of calcined clam shell reduces the tensile strength and elongation at break, while increasing the loading of CNTs increases the tensile strength and elongation at break of PVOH blends. For scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, the amount of fibrous presence in fractured part of PVOH blend increased and size of fibrous became thinner and longer when irradiation increased. Besides, a smoother surface can be observed with increased loading of CNTs, while more fibrous are observed with increased of calcined clam shell.