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Morphology and mechanical property of binary and ternary polypropylene nanocomposites with nanoclay and CaCo 3 particles
Author(s) -
Chen Haibin,
Wang Mozhen,
Lin Yong,
Chan ChiMing,
Wu Jingshen
Publication year - 2007
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.27017
Subject(s) - materials science , crystallization , nanocomposite , composite material , ternary operation , polypropylene , izod impact strength test , nanoparticle , modulus , chemical engineering , ultimate tensile strength , nanotechnology , computer science , engineering , programming language
Inorganic nanofillers, CaCO 3 and nanoclay, are widely applied to improve the mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP). In general, the use of spherical CaCO 3 can enhance the impact strength while the use of layered nanoclay can enhance the modulus and yield stress. With the objective to simultaneously improve the stiffness, strength, and impact strength of PP, in this work a ternary nanocomposite, PP/CaCO 3 /nanoclay (NCPP), was prepared and its morphology, crystallization, and mechanical behaviors were investigated with a comparison to the binary nanocomposites, PP/CaCO 3 (CPP) and PP/nanoclay (NPP). The results showed that in NCPP the nanoclay was extremely exfoliated with a much higher degree than that in NPP, which was possibly because the incorporation of CaCO 3 nanoparticles adjusted the matrix viscosity and thus provided a balance between shear stress and molecule diffusion. As a result of this highly exfoliated structure, a substantial increase in modulus and yield stress was attained in NCPP. However, its impact strength was less enhanced. The toughening effects of the CaCO 3 particles observed in CPP became ineffective. This difference was ascribed to the fact that in NCPP the crystallization behavior was dominated by the nanoclay and the formation of β‐phase crystallites induced by the CaCO 3 particles was inhibited. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007