Carbon nanotube (CNT) grafted with hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer (CNTD) were used as a multifunctional curing and composite agent of polyurethane (PU) terminated with epoxy units. Amino-functionalized CNT was used as the core for grafting the first generation of PAMAM dendrimer by sequential addition of methyl acrylate and ethylenediamine. Two different epoxy-terminated PUs (PUB and PU-PMDA) were prepared from the reaction of poly(ethylene glycol), excess amounts of hexamethylene diisocyanate, and different chain extenders (1,4-butanediol for PUB and pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) for PU-PMDA), and subsequent end group transformation of the isocyanate groups to epoxy functionalities using glycidol. Fourier transform infrared spectra and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results showed that CNTD was successfully prepared. TGA thermograms revealed that thermal decomposition of composites were carried out in two main steps related to the soft and hard segments. In addition, char content and thermal stability of the composites were increased with increasing the CNTD content. Most importantly, the PMDA chain extender resulted in high thermal stability of the epoxy-terminated PU composites. X-ray diffraction and scanning and transmission electron microscopies presented morphological and structural properties of nanotubes and hybrid composites.

Chemical incorporation of epoxy-modified graphitic layers in epoxy/novolac phenolic resin matrices was carried out through co-curing of epoxy and novolac resins using triphenylphosphine as catalyst. First, (3-glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) was grafted on graphene oxide (GO) surface to obtain epoxidized GO layers. Then epoxy resin and GPTMS-modified GO were incorporated into thermosetting reaction using novolac resin in the presence of triphenylphosphine. Covalent attachment of GPTMS-modified GO to the resin matrices resulted in a hybrid composite with high thermal characteristics. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy were used for approving modification of GO with GPTMS. The images resulted from scanning and transmission electron microscopies exhibited GO layers with lots of creases turning to smooth layers with a few thin ripples after modification with GPTMS. TGA results showed that thermal characteristics of resins were improved by the addition of GPTMS-modified GO. Char residue of the hybrid composites containing 0.5 and 1 wt% of GPTMS-modified GO reached 28.1 and 34.3%, respectively. Also, their maximum thermal degradation temperature was also increased by the incorporation of GPTMS-modified GO.