During the past decade, polymer nanocomposites have emerged as a novel andrapidly developing class of materials and attracted considerable investment inresearch and development worldwide. However, there is currently a lack ofinformation available in the literature on the nano and ultrafine particleemission rates from these materials. In this study, influence of nanoclay onmechanical drilling of PA6 composites, in terms of dust generation has beenreported. With the help of real-time characterization, submicrometer-sizedparticles (5.6-512 nm) size distribution and number concentration emitted frompolyamide 6/nanoclay composites during mechanical drilling is studied. Totalparticle concentration for the PA6/nanoclay composites was 20,000 cm-3, whileunreinforced panel measured a total concentration of approximately 400,000 cm-3.While the airborne particle concentration for the PA6/ nanoclay composites was20 times lower than for the PA6 matrix, the concentration of depositednanoparticles doubled for the nanocomposite. The results clearly shows that moreparticles in the size range between 175-350 nm are generated, during drilling ofthe nanocomposites and this particles deposit in a shorter time. It is likelythat the presence of nanoclay in some way retains the formation of high quantityof airborne particles and promotes particle deposition.
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