Effect of Temperature on Mechanical Properties of Nanoclay-Reinforced Polymeric Nanocomposites. Ⅱ: Modeling and Theoretical Predictions

摘要

In this paper, the modeling and theoretical prediction for the results given in the companion paper for nanoclay-reinforced polymers subjected to mechanical and thermal loads are presented. In the companion paper, the mechanical properties for three grades of polypropylene and epoxy reinforced with nanoclay were experimentally determined at various temperatures. In this study, the Mori-Tanaka formulations (for oriented particles, two-dimensional randomly distributed particles and three-dimensional randomly distributed particles) are used and the FEM, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio are calculated and then compared with the experimental results. The Mori-Tanaka formulation is modified to take into account nanoclay particles of varying dimensions and also the effect of voids. In addition, at high temperatures the formulation is further modified to include the effect of temperature in the calculation of the Young's modulus. It is found that the results obtained from the modified Mori-Tanaka calculations compare well with the experimental results. The finite-element calculations also provide a reasonable estimate for the Young's modulus; however, the results are less predictive than the Mori-Tanaka results.