Using Image Analysis for Structural and Mechanical Cha-racterization of Nanoclay Reinforced Polypropylene Com-posites
- 1
- 2
Abstract
This paper focuses on the micromechanical study of the tensile property of Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites (PCN). Polypropylene (PP) filled with nanoclay is chosen as the PCN. Measurements of optical dispersion parameters (as discussed by Basu et al., namely, exfoliation number (ξn), degree of dispersions (χ) and agglomerate %) in PCN system were carried out using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Optical Microscopy (OM). The experimentally obtained tensile modulus is compared with theoretically obtained modulus values from the optical dispersion parameters and observed a close matching between these values. Also, the tensile values are compared with other standard theoretical models and observed that the results obtained from optical dispersion parameters are suited well with experimental results.
- F. Perrin-Sarazin, M.-T. Ton-That, M. N. Bureau and J. Denault, “Micro- and Nano-Structure in Polypropylene /Clay Na-nocomposites,” Polymer, Vol. 46, No. 25, 2005, pp. 11624-11634.
- B. Q. Chen and J. R.G. Evans, “Impact and Tensile Energies of Fracture in Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites,” Polymer, Vol. 49, No. 23, 2008, pp. 5113-5118.
- S. Pavlidou and C. D. Papaspyrides, “A Review on Poly-mer-Layered Silicate Nanocomposites,” Progress in Polymer Science, Vol. 33, No. 12, 2008, pp. 1119-1198.
- C. E. Powell and G. W. Beall, “Physical Properties of Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites,” Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2006, pp. 73 -80.
- N. Sheng, M. C. Boyce, D. M. Parks, G. C. Rutledge, J. I. Abes and R. E. Cohen, “Multiscale Micromechanical Modeling of Polymer/Clay Na-nocomposites and the Effective Clay Particle,” Polymer, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2004, pp. 487-506.
- G. Scocchi, P. Posocco, A. Danani, S. Pricl and M. O. Fermeglia, “To the Nanoscale, and beyond: Multiscale Molecular Modeling of Polymer-Clay Na-nocomposites,” Fluid Phase Equilibria, Vol. 261, No. 1-2, 2007, pp. 366 -374.
- T. D. Fornes and D. R. Paul, “Modeling Properties of Nylon 6/Clay Nanocomposites Using Composite Theories,” Polymer, Vol. 44, No. 17, 2003, pp. 4993-5013.
- S. Boutaleb, F. Za?ri, A. Mesbah, M. Na?t-Abdelaziz, J. M. Gloaguen, T. Boukharouba and J. M. Lefebvre, “Micromechanics-Based Modelling of Stiffness and Yield Stress for Silica/Polymer Nanocomposites,” International Journal of Solids and Structures, Vol. 46, No. 7-8, 2009, pp. 1716-1726.
- J.-J. Luo and I. M. Daniel, “Characterization and Modeling of Mechanical Behavior of Polymer/Clay Nano-composites,” Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 63, No. 11, 2003, pp. 1607-1616.
- G. Tanaka and L. A. Goettler, “Predicting the Binding Energy for Nylon 6,6/Clay Nanocom-posites by Molecular Modeling,” Polymer, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2002, pp. 541-553.
- Y.-P. Wu, Q.-X. Jia, D.-S. Yu and L.-Q. Zhang, “Modeling Young’s Modulus of Rubber-Clay Nano-composites Using Composite Theories,” Polymer Testing, Vol. 23, No. 8, 2004, pp. 903-909.
- S. K. Basu and Tewari, “Transmission Electron Microscopy Based Direct Mathematical Quantifiers for Dispersion in Nanocomposites,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 91, No. 5, 2007, p. 053105.
- J. C. Halpin and J. L. Kardos, “The Halping-Tsai Equations: A Review,” Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 16, No. 5, 1976, pp. 344-352.