Investigation of Structural Characteristics of Carbon Nanomaterials as Modifier Components for Construction Composites

Abstract

The study analyzed the structural characteristics of carbon nanomaterials obtained at different time parameters of the synthesis based on X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning microscopy. According to the Raman spectroscopy and X-ray scattering data, the crystallite size of nanotubes is estimated to be in the range from 9 to 38 nm. With the synthesis time of 90 minutes, the nanotube crystallite size remains minimal in comparison with other samples, which is confirmed, among other things, by various diagnostic methods. Based on the X-ray diffraction data, the Lc and La crystallite sizes (longitudinal and perpendicular to the direction of the carbon layers) were calculated using the Selyakov-Scherrer formula. The sizes of nanotube crystallites as a result of increasing the synthesis time are in the range of 9-12 nm in the longitudinal direction and 22-38 nm in the perpendicular direction. The diffraction patterns of the samples do not reflect the presence of a significant amount of graphite; the intensity structure is predominantly in the (002) and (004) peaks, which are characteristic of nanotubes. As a result of the use of nanotubes as a modifier component with a synthesis duration from 40 to 90 minutes, an increase in the performance of the composite up to 20-25 % relative to the control sample is observed.