▎ 摘　　要

The present investigation is aimed to develop hybrid nanocomposites of polyetherimide (PEI)/silicone rubber (85:15 wt:wt) incorporated with fixed loading (3 wt%) of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt% loadings of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by melt mixing process using a twin-screw extruder. In comparison with RGO, it is observed that the HNTs disperse sparingly in PEI/silicone rubber mixtures in spite of having similar Physico-chemical structures. SEM studies reveal that the addition of RGO increases the dispersion of HNTs in PEI/silicone rubber to a greater extent, which results in an improvement in tensile strength from 41 to 59 MPa and tensile modulus from 658 to 715 MPa on the addition of 0.3 wt% of graphene. This synergistic effect of both the nanofillers is also reflected by significant improvements in flexural modulus (from 3217 to 4156 MPa), impact strength (56 to 78 J/m), Rockwell hardness (89 to 104), and thermal properties of nanocomposite; the highest storage modulus (7290 MPa) was observed for 0.3 wt% and lowest (5390 MPa) for 0.0 wt% loading of graphene at 50 degrees C temperature. It is due to the rigidity in polymer chains movement because of dispersion of RGO that improves the interfacial interaction, as well as thermal vibrations of the C-C bond, which are restricted of the polymer matrix.