Experimental investigation of resistance welded polypropylene nanocomposite joints

摘要

Polymers reinforced with fillers termed as polymer nanocomposites have gained interest among the researchers. In the present research work, the manufacturing of polymeric nanocomposite was carried out with Polypropylene (PP) matrix and 2 wt.% of Cloisite30B (C3B) as nanofiller with Elvaloy AC 3427 (EAC) as compatibilizer by melt intercalation method with the aid of twin screw extruder. The resistance welding samples were produced by injection molding. In this study, resistance welding was used for joining 2 wt.% PP/C3B/EAC nanocomposite using stainless steel as an interlayer. To study the lap shear strength of the joints, an L9 orthogonal array was constructed with input factors like clamping pressure (MPa), time (s) and current (A). The joints were studied metallurgically by scanning electron microscope; which revealed a good integration of 2 wt.% PP/C3B/EAC nanocomposites with the interlayer. The significance of the input factors over the lap shear strength was investigated using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).