Premium
Use of Nanoindentation to Mechanically Characterized Polypropylene/Cloisite 15A Nanocomposites Films Exposed to Gamma‐Irradiation
Author(s) -
Kaci Mustapha,
Touati Naima,
Bourmaud Alain,
Grohens Yves
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.202000219
Subject(s) - nanoindentation , polypropylene , nanocomposite , materials science , irradiation , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , composite material , maleic anhydride , compounding , polymer chemistry , polymer , chemical engineering , copolymer , physics , nuclear physics , engineering
In this paper, the effect of γ‐irradiation on the mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP)/Cloisite 15A (5 wt %) nanocomposites is investigated by nanoindentation technique up to 100 kGy. The film samples, with an average thickness of 150 μm, are prepared by melt compounding with and without PP ‐grafted‐ maleic anhydride (PP ‐g‐ MA) used as the compatibilizer at 20 wt %. Nanoindentation results show an increase in both modulus and hardness with the irradiation dose for the PP nanocomposites, being however much higher for the compatibilized sample compared to both uncompatibilized one and neat PP. FTIR spectra show a strong absorption band at 1715 cm −1 in the irradiated samples assigned to ketonic groups whose intensity increased with the dose. Further, the oxidation rate of PP nanocomposites is faster than that of neat PP. Overall, the nanoindentation results are in a good agreement with those obtained by FTIR spectroscopy.