INTERACTION STUDIES OF BOEHMITE ALUMINA NANOPARTICLES ON PP-g-MAH COMPATIBILIZED POLYAMIDE12/POLYPROPYLENE BLEND

摘要

Dispersion of nanoparticles in polymer matrix (polymer nanocomposite) has recently attracted substantial academic and industrial interest. This is due to the enhancement of the properties of the polymer (pristine and blend) matrix. In this study, polyamide 12 (PA12) (engineering plastic) and polypropylene (PP commodity plastic) were melt blended in the presence of polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH), which has already been established as an effective compatibilizer. Boehmite alumina nanoparticles (n-AlO(OH)) of different weight percent loadings were added to the compatibilized blend to obtain nanocomposites. Three samples were prepared, pristine PA12, pristine PP and compatibilized blend (70/30/5: PA12/PP/PP-g-MAH), as the control samples. Four compabilized blend based composites having 1, 3, 5 and 7 wt% nanoparticle loadings were prepared. The effect of interaction of the nanoparticles on the compatibilized blend were then analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the morphology. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also employed to investigate the dispersion of nanoparticles within the polymer, while differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to understand the influence of interactions on the thermal behaviour of the samples.