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Morphology prediction of ternary polypropylene composites containing elastomer and calcium carbonate nanoparticles filler
Author(s) -
Ma C. G.,
Zhang M. Q.,
Rong M. Z.
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.25431
Subject(s) - elastomer , materials science , composite material , wetting , polypropylene , calcium carbonate , filler (materials) , ternary operation , ceramic , dispersion (optics) , physics , computer science , optics , programming language
Abstract In this work, the morphology was studied in ternary composites of polypropylene (PP) with nanosized calcium carbonate (nano‐CaCO 3 ) fillers and elastomer inclusions and the thermodynamic consideration was used to analyze the formation of phase structure of the composites. The wetting coefficient (ω a ), interfacial tension (γ AB ), and work of adhesion ( W AB ) were calculated to predict dispersion state of nano‐CaCO 3 fillers. A comparison of the prediction and SEM analysis was given. The results show that three types of phase structures were formed: an encapsulation of the filler by elastomer, a separate dispersion of the filler and elastomer, and a particular structure of the filler at the PP/elastomer interface. The predictions by ω a were all successfully supported‐up by SEM analysis and the predictions by W AB were however trustless. Both γ AB and W AB can predict a separate dispersion or an encapsulation phase structure, but they were not available for the particular structure of the filler at the PP/elastomer interface. ω a was competent and favored for the prediction of all three types of morphology among the three parameters. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 1578–1584, 2007