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Polypropylene/combinational inorganic filler micro‐/nanocomposites: Synergistic effects of micro‐/nanoscale combinational inorganic fillers on their mechanical properties
Author(s) -
Chen Deliang,
Yang Huaming
Publication year - 2009
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.31104
Subject(s) - materials science , polypropylene , composite material , nanocomposite , ultimate tensile strength , nanoscopic scale , composite number , polymer , extrusion , nanotechnology
Abstract Polypropylene (PP) has wide applications in various areas, but its low‐temperature brittleness and low moduli have limited its applications in engineering areas. This article reported micro‐/nanoscale combinational inorganic fillers (CIFs) to reinforce PP‐matrix composites as the first example. The CIFs consisted of plate‐like talc (T), needle‐like wollastonite (W), and nano‐Al 2 O 3 (N). The PP/CIFs specimens were fabricated via a process of twin‐screw extrusion and screw‐type injection molding. The mechanical properties and thermal deflection temperature (HDT) of the PP/CIF composites were tested according to the corresponding standards, and the morphologies of the tensile‐fractured sections were observed using FE‐SEM. The PP/WT composites had higher mechanical properties and HDTs than those of either PP/W or PP/T. Small amounts of Al 2 O 3 nanocrystals together with WT simultaneously strengthened and toughened the PP‐matrix composites. The PP/WTN composite with 2.6% of nano‐Al 2 O 3 had well‐balanced properties, enhanced by a large increment when compared with the PP matrix or PP/WT composites. The enhancements should be attributed to the synergistic effects of the CIFs not only in the aspect of various shapes (plate‐like, needle‐like, and spherical) but also in hierarchical size‐levels (microscale and nanoscale). The novel strategy overcame the limitation of conventional rigid modification and solved the problem of uniform dispersion of nanocrystals in polymer matrices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010