Nanoparticle-Filled Thermoplastics and Thermoplastic Elastomer: Structure-Property Relationships
- The present work focuses on the structure-property relationships of
particulate-filled thermoplastics and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). In this work
two thermoplastics and one TPE were used as polymer matrices, i.e. amorphous
bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC), semi-crystalline isotactic polypropylene (iPP),
and a block copolymer poly(butylene terephthalate)-block-poly(tetramethylene
glycol) TPE(PBT-PTMG). For PC, a selected type of various Aerosil® nano-SiO2
types was used as filler to improve the thermal and mechanical properties by
maintaining the transparency of PC matrix. Different types of SiO2 and TiO2
nanoparticles with different surface polarity were used for iPP. The goal was to
examine the influence of surface polarity and chemical nature of nanoparticles on
the thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of iPP composites. For
TPE(PBT-PTMG), three TiO2 particles were used, i.e. one grade with hydroxyl
groups on the particle surface and the other two grades are surface-modified with
metal and metal oxides, respectively. The influence of primary size and dispersion
quality of TiO2 particles on the properties of TPE(PBT-PTMG)/TiO2 composites
were determined and discussed.
All polymer composites were produced by direct melt blending in a twin-screw
extruder via masterbatch technique. The dispersion of particles was examined by
using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-computerized tomography
(μCT). The thermal and crystalline properties of polymer composites were characterized by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC). The mechanical and thermomechanical properties
were determined by using mechanical tensile testing, compact tension and
Charpy impact as well as dynamic-mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA).
The SEM results show that the unpolar-surface modified nanoparticles are better
dispersed in polymer matrices as iPP than polar-surface nanoparticles, especially
in case of using Aeroxide® TiO2 nanoparticles. The Aeroxide® TiO2 nanoparticles
with a polar surface due to Ti-OH groups result in a very high degree of
agglomeration in both iPP and TPE matrices because of strong van der Waals
interactions among particles (hydrogen bonding). Compared to unmodified
Aeroxide® TiO2 nanoparticles, the other grades of surface modified TiO2 particles
are very homogenously dispersed in used iPP and TPE(PBT-PTMG). The
incorporation of SiO2 nanoparticles into bisphenol-A PC significantly increases
the mechanical properties of PC/SiO2 nanocomposites, particularly the resistance
against environmental stress crazing (ESC). However, the transparency of
PC/SiO2 nanocomposites decreases with increasing nanoparticle content and
size due to a mismatch of infractive indices of PC and SiO2 particles. The different
surface polarity of nanoparticles in iPP shows evident influence on properties of
iPP composites. Among iPP/SiO2 nanocomposites, the nanocomposite
containing SiO2 nanoparticles with a higher degree of hydrophobicity shows
improved fracture and impact toughness compared to the other iPP/SiO2
composites. The TPE(PBT-PTMG)/TiO2 composites show much better thermal and mechanical properties than neat TPE(PBT-PTMG) due to strong chemical
interactions between polymer matrix and TiO2 particles. In addition, better
dispersion quality of TiO2 particles in used TPE(PBT-PTMG) leads to dramatically
improved mechanical properties of TPE(PBT-PTMG)/TiO2 composites.