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Homogeneously Dispersed Poly(propylene)/SiO 2 Nanocomposites with Unprecedented Transparency
Author(s) -
Asuka Kazuo,
Liu Boping,
Terano Minoru,
Nitta Kohhei
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200600096
Subject(s) - spherulite (polymer physics) , nanocomposite , materials science , polyolefin , nanoparticle , isothermal process , chemical engineering , particle size , polymer chemistry , optical microscope , composite material , nanotechnology , polymer , layer (electronics) , scanning electron microscope , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
Summary: Physico‐chemical interactions between hydrophobic polyolefin materials and hydrophilic inorganic nanoparticles such as surface‐hydroxylated SiO 2 have not been well understood so far. In this study, the effects of particle size and content of SiO 2 nanoparticles on isothermal growth rate of PP spherulites in various PP/SiO 2 nanocomposites were investigated by polarized optical microscopy. It was unexpected to find that hydrophilic SiO 2 nanoparticles can be homogeneously dispersed in a PP matrix. Spherulite growth rates of PP in PP/SiO 2 nanocomposites decrease significantly with increasing SiO 2 content and decreasing particle size. Most interestingly, the spherulite growth rate was zero for PP/16 nm‐SiO 2 nanocomposites with SiO 2 content above 2.5 wt.‐% resulting in a highly transparent film.Photographs of 200 µm‐thick PP and PP/16 nm‐SiO 2 (5 wt.‐%) sheets in front of a graphic pattern.