Comparative study of the ball milling and acid treatment of functionalized nanodiamond composites

Abstract Diamond nanoparticles (DNPs) have been strongly integrated into diverse technological applications due to its nano-size, good chemical stability, super hardness, thermal conductivity and biocompatibility. Agglomeration and non-uniform distribution of DNPs in different matrices are the two main concern problems which limits its wide spread applications. Herein, our present research work demonstrated a comparative study of ball milling and acid treatments of functionalization DNPs through surface modification with carboxylic acid and amid functional groups. The dispersion measurement showed that ball mill treated DNPs is uniform and homogeneously dispersed in dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO) rather than as-received and acid treated DNPs. Furthermore, the use of various weight percentages of acid and ball mill functionalized DNPs in epoxy resin showed that 0.2 wt% is the optimum amount which revealed the highest ultimate tensile strength, flexural strength, Young's modulus and energy to break values of the nanocomposites. The comparative analysis showed that ball mill treatment of functionalization significantly enhanced the mechanical performances of epoxy resin more effectively than acid treatment thus demonstrated the importance of ball milling technique.