An ultra-flexible, thermally conductive and electrically insulating composite paper based on BNNSs was fabricated by vacuum filtration. The paper was prepared via a facile two-step coating/grafting modification process. The surface of BNNSs was firstly wrapped by polyrhodanine and subsequently rubber chains were mechanochemically grafted onto the polyrhodanine coating. In addition, by controlling the content of grafted rubber chains, a flexible and electrically insulating composite paper with an in-plane thermal conductivity of up to 45.7 Wm −1 K −1 has been achieved. This paper may have potential applications as high performance thermal-management materials in electronics.
In natural rubber (NR), the non-rubber components such as protein and phospholipids strongly influence the Payne effect and Mullins effect while the mechanisms are not yet clarified so far. Herein deproteinized NR (DPNR) and transesterified DPNR (TEDPNR) are prepared and rheological behaviors are investigated. It is shown that the non-rubber components greatly retard the terminal flow behavior. In comparison with NR, DPNR and TEDPNR exhibit significant hysteresis and worse recoverability under large amplitude shear. During cyclic tensile deformation, the DPNR vulcanizate behaves similar to the NR one, while the TEDPNR one demonstrates higher deformation energy normalized with theoretical shear modulus and dissipation ratio. It is suggested that both the protein and phospholipids influence the Payne effect of NR gum by forming aggregates and creating intermolecular association. On the other hand, the phospholipids rather than protein strongly influence the Mullins effect by lowering their crosslinking density and associating the rubbery chains. This investigation would be enlightening for understanding the mechanisms of the Payne effect and Mullins effect of the NR materials.