Effect of Nano Metal Oxide Loading Rates on Polymer-Nano Metal Oxide Nanocomposites

Abstract

Many industries, such as those in the fields of medicine, textiles, cosmetics, agriculture, optics, food packaging, optoelectronics, semiconductors, aerospace, building materials, and catalysis, utilise nanoparticles and nanocomposites in a variety of applications. A unique class of materials, polymeric nanocomposites outperform their microparticle counterparts by fusing organic polymers with inorganic nanoparticles. Consequently, they ought to advance the field of engineering applications. The presence of inorganic nanoparticles can significantly alter the properties of a polymer matrix. Titanium dioxide (nTiO2) and zinc oxide (nZnO), two nanoparticle reinforced polymer flexible composites, offer new design opportunities with exceptional mechanical and chemical capabilities. The mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties of polypropylene (PP) composite materials filled with nTiO2 and nZnO were investigated in this study. Nanoparticles made up between 1 and 5 weight percent of the matrix. For improved surface adherence and fine dispersion, nanoparticles were coated with maleic anhydride grafted styrene ethylene butylene styrene (SEBS-g-MA) and silane, respectively, prior to melt mixing. To investigate the effects of modified and unmodified nanoparticles at various concentrations on the mechanical characteristics, morphological, and thermal properties, PP/nanoparticle nanocomposites were made using a twin-screw extruder and a heat press. Due to the stiff structure of nanoparticles, impact strength and elongation at break have decreased while all tensile parameters, such as yield strength and tensile strength, have increased. In spite of the fact that nTiO2 has a higher hardness than nZnO, nanocomposites containing it showed more elongation than those containing the latter. The PP/nTiO2 nanocomposite produced more than SEBS-g-MA due to the presence of silane. However, compared to nZnO nanocomposites, silane-modified nTiO2 nanocomposites have better tensile properties. Reduced elongation at break is guaranteed in this case since the more refined structure of nTiO2 with PP has been induced. The better compatibility of nTiO2 with silane is probably to blame for this. Additionally, thermal analysis was done to figure out the melt temperature, crystallization temperature, and crystallinity level.

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References

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