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Synthesis and characterization of fibrous nanosilica/polydimethylsiloxane composites
Author(s) -
Roy Nabarun,
Bhowmick Anil K.
Publication year - 2013
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.39229
Subject(s) - materials science , nanofiber , composite material , polydimethylsiloxane , composite number , ultimate tensile strength , modulus , amorphous solid , filler (materials) , organic chemistry , chemistry
This article reports the synthesis of silica nanofiber/polydimethylsiloxane composites. Hollow silica nanofibers were synthesized through soft‐template mediated synthesis using nitric acid catalyst and extensively characterized. Amorphous nanofibers were obtained by this method with mean diameter of 80 nm and length extending over several micrometers. Nanofibers were also prepared by varying the surfactant concentration and its effect on aspect ratio was investigated. Incorporation of these nanofibers into PDMS matrix was accomplished through in situ and ex situ preparative techniques. The composites prepared exhibited a significant enhancement of various properties. In situ prepared composites yielded maximum improvement in properties with 120% improvement in tensile strength, 175% improvement in room temperature storage modulus and 190°C increase in temperature of maximum degradation (T max ) even at low filler loading. Extent of nanofiller dispersion solely determined the property improvement of the composites. Nanofiller aspect ratio was also found to play an important role on the property improvement of the composites. Composite formation and hence property improvement were explained in depth in the light of free energy change and interaction parameter of the components of the hybrid material. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1005‐1019, 2013