Nanofillers types

The properties of polymer nanocomposites are influenced by numerous factors including nanofillers type, purity, and the match between clay and CNT dimensions (length and diameter). These factors should be taken into account in the preparation of polymer nanocomposite, as well as in process of reporting and interpreting the experimental data. 

M. Bhattacharya, S. Biswas, S. Bandyopadhyay and A. K. Bhowmick, Influence of the nanofiller type and content on permeation characteristics of multifunctional NR nanocomposites and their modeling, Polynt. Adv. TechnoL, 2012, 23, 596. 

Nanofillers may be nanoclays, carbon nanotubes (single or multiwall) (CNTs), silica, layered double hydroxides (LDHs), metal oxides, etc., offering the promise of a variety of new composites, adhesives, coatings, and sealant materials with specific properties [32-37]. Among the fillers mentioned, nanoclays have attracted most of the academia and industry interest, due to their abrmdance as raw materials and to the fact that their dispersion in polymer matrices has been studied for decades [38]. In fact, there are three major polymer nanocomposites categories in terms of nanofiller type that are expected to compile the global nanocomposites market in 2011 nanoclay-reinforced (24%), metal oxide-reinforced (19%), and CNTs-reinforced (15%) ones [39-41]. 

Another nanofiller type that has been reported to form PAs nanocomposites by in-situ intercalation are CNTs. Gao et al. [64] prepared PA 6-single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by in-situ polymerizing caprolactam in the presence of carboxylic acid-functionalized S WNTs (Figure 2.11). They reported an efficient dispersion of the nanofiller in the monomer and a subsequent grafting of the PA 6 chains to the CNTs, through a condensation reaction between the SWNTs carboxyl groups... 

Another nanofiller type that has been used for PA nanocomposite formation through the IPC method are CNTs. Indeed, HaggenmueUer et al. [80] adapted this method for the fabrication of PA 6.6-SWNTs nanocomposites. In their synthetic route, SWNTs were incorporated suspended either in water or in toluene. The quality of the nanofiller suspension prior to the in-situ polymerization, also in this case, was found to determine to a large extent the nanofUler dispersion in the... 

In this section, the friction and wear of PTFE-based composites with different nano-scaled fillers are explicitly discussed. The friction coefficients of PTFE-based composites with different nanoscaled fillers differ with each other because of the dissimilar physical and chemical properties of different types of nanofiUers. However, despite the different nanofiller type and content, the variation of friction coefficient between PTFE-based composites and pure PTFE is evident under different experimental conditions. On the one hand, this is caused by the very low friction coefficient of pure PTFE so that a further decrease in friction coefficient becomes a formidable issue. On the other hand, due to the material nature of the nanofillers—for instance the lubrication property of nano-EG significantly lowers the friction coefficient of PTFE/nano-EG composites while friction coefficient of PTFE/nanoserpentine composites barely changes, which is greatly related to the material nature of the nanofillers. Conversely, a dramatic reduction in wear rate is observed in all PTFE-based composites. It is believed that the strong interfacial interaction, high shear strength, enhanced load capacity, and extra lubrication effect of PTFE-based composites with nanoscaled fillers are responsible for the improvement of wear resistance. However, the specific enhancement mechanism remains unsolved. 

Two compounds of this type, T8[c-C5H9]8 and Tslc-CeHnls (Table 31, entries 1 ) are of particular interest not because of the nature of their pendant groups which are difficult to functionalize (a few examples of the use of such compounds as polymer nanofillers have been reported), but because they are the precursors to compounds with TsRyR structures (R = C-C5H9 or c-CeHu) as described at the end of this section. 

With the variation in nanofillers, mainly the following types of nanocomposites can be obtained ... 

Reinforcement of polymer matrices using various types of nanofillers is being extensively studied nowadays. The reinforcement mechanisms as well as enhancement of properties are different with different types of fillers. This field is quite green and many more developments are yet to come to enrich our science and technology in the near future. 

On the other hand, Bhattacharya et al. have reported the plasticization effect of organically modified layered silicates on dynamic mechanical properties [13]. In this work, nanocomposites of SBR have been prepared using various nanofillers like modified and unmodified montmorillonite, SP, hectorite etc. It has been observed that the Tg shifts to lower temperature in all the nanocomposites, except for systems from hectorite and NA. This is due to the fact that clay layers form capillaries parallel to each other as they become oriented in a particular direction. Due to wall slippage of the unattached polymer through these capillaries, the Tg is lowered, which could be even more in the absence of organo-modifiers [13]. A similar type of plasticization effect is also noted in the case of the low... 

These results indicate both the necessity and efficacy of the IAF in understanding the polymer-nanofiller interaction parameter. It also justifies the approach undertaken to identify the possible constituents of this function, specifically for PNCs filled with platelet-type nanofiller. 

CIL is unavoidable when nanodispersion of any other nanofiller, such as clay or carbon nanotube (CNT) is considered [17,18], Various types of cationic surfactants in the case of montmorillonite (MMT) and reactive interface modifications in the case of CNT have been introduced to ensure... 

The model described in Figure 13.5 takes into account both the physical and chemical effects of the interlayers but the chemical ones, which are reflected, for example, in the ignition time, have not yet been discussed. A number of cone calorimetric investigations reported a decrease of the time to ignition (TTI) in presence of clay nanofillers. Such results can be seen in Table 13.2 for MMT and sepiolite (SEP) clay types. 

The fire toxicity of each material has been measured under different fire conditions. The influence of polymer nanocomposite formation and fire retardants on the yields of toxic products from fire is studied using the ISO 19700 steady-state tube furnace, and it is found that under early stages of burning more carbon monoxide may be formed in the presence of nanofillers and fire retardants, but under the more toxic under-ventilated conditions, less toxic products are formed. Carbon monoxide yields were measured, together with HCN, nitric acid (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) yields for PA6 materials, for a series of characteristic fire types from well-ventilated to large vitiated. The yields are all expressed on a mass loss basis. 

Currently, the study on ternary polymer composites containing both clay and CNTs is still at its primary stage, but it is promising and exciting to assemble two types of nanoparticles to break the limitation of single nanofiller in composites. Furthermore, we would like to propose some issues that should be addressed in future work in this field ... 

This chapter reports the results of the literature that concerns the photooxidation of polymer nanocomposites. The published studies concern various polymers (PP, epoxy, ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM), PS, and so on) and different nanofillers such as organomontmorillonite or layered double hydroxides (LDH) were investigated. It is worthy to note that a specific attention was given to the interactions with various kinds of stabilizers and their efficiency to protect the polymer. One of the main objectives was to understand the influence of the nanofiller on the oxidation mechanism of the polymer and on the ageing of the nanocomposite material. Depending on the types of nanocomposite that were studied, the influence of several parameters such as morphology, processing conditions, and nature of the nanofiller was examined. 

Mostly focused on cationic clays, and particularly on montmorillonite and hectorite, smectite-type layered silicates and clay-based nanofillers have recently been extended to the family of LDH. Hydrotalcite-like LDH materials are described according to the ideal formula, [M1/ xM"l(OH)2]frl(lra [A H20]inter, where Mn and Mm are metallic cations, A the anions, and intra and inter denote the intralayer and interlayer domain, respectively. The structure consists of brucite-like layers constituted of edge-sharing octahedra. The presence of trivalent cations induces positive charges in the layers that are counterbalanced by interlamellar anions (Scheme 15.16). 

Graphene-polymer nanocomposites share with other nanocomposites the characteristic of remarkable improvements in properties and percolation thresholds at very low filler contents. Although the majority of research has focused on polymer nanocomposites based on layered materials of natural origin, such as an MMT type of layered silicate compounds or synthetic clay (layered double hydroxide), the electrical and thermal conductivity of clay minerals are quite poor [177]. To overcome these shortcomings, carbon-based nanofillers, such as CB, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and graphite have been introduced to the preparation of polymer nanocomposites. Among these, carbon nanotubes have proven to be very effective as conductive fillers. An important drawback of them as nanofillers is their high production costs, which... 

Inorganic nanofiller of various types usage for polymer nanocomposites production have been widely spread. However, the nanomaterials melt... 

As the adduced above data have shown, the polymer nanocomposites with three main types of inorganic nanofiller and also polymer-polymeric nanocomposites melt viscosity caimot be described adequately within the fiamework of models, developed for the description of microcomposites melt viscosity. This task can be solved successfully within the framework of the fractal model of viscous liquid flow, if in it the used nanofiller special feature is taken into account correctly. Let us note that unlike microcomposites nanofiller cotents enhancement does not result in melt viscosity increase, but, on the contrary, reduces it. It is obvious, that this aspect is very important from the practical point of view. 

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