Effect of Micro- as well as Nano-scaled Fillers on Rheological, Structural and Utility Properties of Polymer Composites

Description

Development of tailor-made polymeric materials has been intensively studied in the last time as the new applications require tuning of different material properties to get specific property profile of the final product. Using micro-scaled fillers like calcium carbonate, glass fibers, cost-effective composites with improved mechanical properties (higher tensile strength, stiffness) can be obtained. However, in conventional composite systems, due to typically high concentration of the filler and large particle size, respectively, some material properties (in particular impact strength) are deteriorated because of low interfacial adhesion between the matrix and dispersed phase. On the other hand, nano-scaled fillers like layered silicates or carbon nanotubes can enhance the polymer matrix by including of specific functionalities which provides higher interfacial adhesion between filler and polymer matrix. In this work, selected micro-scaled fillers (e.g. glass fibers, basalt fibers) as well as nanofillers (commercial layered silicates as well as layered silicates with new surface treatment) have been incorporated into polymer matrix. Their effect on rheology, structure and application properties of the final composite system has been investigated. In some cases, a G´ secondary plateau characteristic for “rubber-like” behavior has been observed. This indicates that a 3D-physical network of filler particles in polymer matrix can be achieved with both nano- as well as micro-scaled fillers depending on polymer/filler chemistry as well as processing conditions. Comparing to conventional polymer composites, preparation of nanocomposites is often associated with specific reaction mechanisms, which are also discussed in this contribution.

Period	25 Sept 2014
Event title	6th International Conference on Polymer Behaviour
Event type	Conference
Location	AustriaShow on map