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Effect of Quasi‐nanometer zirconium carbide on the physical characterization of zirconium carbide/polyurethane composite films irradiated under ultraviolet light
Author(s) -
Tasi HuiAn,
Suen MawCherng,
Chen ChengChi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.24824
Subject(s) - materials science , polyurethane , composite number , zirconium carbide , zirconium , polymer , irradiation , composite material , ultraviolet , nanometre , ultimate tensile strength , ultraviolet light , radical , carbide , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , chemistry , physics , optoelectronics , nuclear physics , engineering , metallurgy
We used quasi‐nanometer zirconium carbide (ZrC) and a polyurethane (PU) resin under roller pressure to form a composite film and found that the tensile strength at break, elongation at break, and modulus gradually decreased with increasing ultraviolet (UV)‐irradiation time for films of both PU and the PU/ZrC composite. However, this phenomenon was significantly higher for the PU film than for the ZrC/PU composite film. The construction of the PU film changed after UV irradiation, but that of the PU/ZrC composite film was almost unchanged. The degradation of PU molecules occurred in the absence of ZrC particles after irradiation with UV light but almost did not occur in the presence of ZrC particles. This was confirmed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography analyses. It was suggested that polymer radicals which formed through the photooxidation of UV irradiation and free radicals which formed through the photoreduction of nanometer ZrC/UV irradiation interacted to form a dead polymer to stop the degradation; simultaneously, the chemical bonding between polymer molecules could be re‐formed from free radicals created by photooxidation and photoreduction and thus reduce the mobility of PU molecules, thereby raising the glass‐transition and melting temperatures of the soft segment. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 4842–4849, 2006