Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    The effect of various nanoclay surface modifications on the thermal and mechanical properties of amorphous polyamide nanocomposites
    ( 2020-01-01) ;
    Kennedy J.E.
    ;
    Farrell J.B.
    ;
    The addition of nanoclay within polymer matrix is anticipate to enhance the properties of the polymer system. Nonetheless, one of the key elements in property enhancements of a polymer nanocomposites is the surface modifications of the nanoclay. This is due to the affinity between polymer matrix and nanoclay is of important factors should be considered. In this study, amorphous polyamide was melt blended with different nanoclay grades with different surface modifications in order to evaluate the best clay grade for the polymer system. The thermal analysis carried out on the amorphous polyamide nanocomposites were carried out by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) whereas the mechanical properties were investigated using tensile testing. It was observed that there were changes in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the nanocomposites due to clay additions. Further, the storage modulus was found to increase as a result of nanoclay incorporation. The type of clay grades significantly affects the mechanical properties of the amorphous polyamide nanocomposites.
      4  21
  • Publication
    MicroMechanical Modeling of PolyaMide 11 nanocoMPosites ProPerties using coMPosite theories
    The use of organically modified clays as nano-reinforcement in polymer matrices is widely investigated owing to their remarkable reinforcement at low filler loading. In this body of work, the nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending nanoclay with polyamide 11 (PA 11) utilising a twin-screw extruder in order to maximise the dispersion of clay particles within the matrix during compounding. The main aim of the work was to study the reinforcing effect of nanoclay within PA 11 using two micromechanical model namely Halpin-Tsai and Mori-Tanaka composite theories. These theories were used to predict the effective tensile modulus of PA 11 nanocomposites and the results were compared to the experimental data. In addition, the Halpin-Tsai model was used to predict the storage modulus and heat distortion temperature (HDT) of PA 11 nanocomposites. It was found that the tensile modulus for nanocomposites with a high clay aspect ratio exhibits up to 10% higher when compared to the nanocomposites with lower clay aspect ratio. Thus, it is believed that the combination of clay aspect ratio and modulus contributes to the super reinforcing effect of nanoclay within the PA 11 matrix.
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