pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S06 - Nanocomposites
Oral Presentation
 
 

Short-term and long-term behavior of PP-Polymer Nanocomposites produced by Injection Molding Compounding

Battisti Markus (1)*, Guttmann Peter (1), Chitu Livia (2), Friesenbichler Walter (1)

(1) Montanuniversitaet Leoben - Styria - Austria, (2) Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH - Styria - Austria

There are only few investigations considering the impact of nanoscale fillers on the mechanical und thermo-mechanical properties of polymers. Particularly there is a lack of results regarding long term creep behavior of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the influence of nanofiller contents on the mechanical and thermo-mechanical behavior of Polypropylene-based PNCs. The processing of the test specimens was carried out using the Polymer NanoComposite Injection Molding Compounder (PNC-IMC). In comparison to conventional compounding process, in which the compound must be pelletized and fed into the injection moulding machine for the second plasticizing process, injection molding compounding combines these two processing steps. The material compounding and the subsequent injection moulding are done directly with only one plasticizing process, with the use of a heated melt pipe and a melt accumulator. The PNCs were produced in the 3in1 process at the PNC-IMC, where all components (polymer, compatibilizer, nanofiller) were added simultaneously into the compounder. Furthermore, the polymer melt was treated using elongational flow generating devices for better intercalation and exfoliation of the nanofillers. Tensile tests were made to characterize the short-term-mechanical properties, tensile creep tests show the influence of nanofillers on the long-term-creep-performance and dynamic mechanical tests (DMA) were performed to investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior. Both, the improvements in the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties in comparison to the pure polypropylene are shown and give an excellent overview of possibilities and limitations of the PNCs. Further research will focus on the detailed understanding of the different mechanism of layered silicates in polymer. By using small angle X-ray scattering the exfoliation and intercalation of the layered silicates in the polymer matrix will be verified.