Abstract
In materials research, the development of polymer nanocomposites (PN) is rapidly emerging as a multidisciplinary research field with results that could broaden the applications of polymers to many different industries. PN are polymer matrices (thermoplastics, thermosets or elastomers) that have been reinforced with small quantities of nano-sized particles, preferably characterized by high aspect ratios, such as layered silicates and carbon nanotubes. Thermal analysis (TA) is a useful tool to investigate a wide variety of properties of polymers and it can be also applied to PN in order to gain further insight into their structure. This review illustrates the versatile applications of TA methods in the emerging field of polymer nanomaterial research, presenting some examples of applications of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and thermal mechanical analysis (TMA) for the characterization of nanocomposite materials.
Highlights
The combination of two different materials, for instance polymeric, is a simple route for combining the attractive features of different materials in order to enhance the deficient characteristics of a particular material [1]
Polymer composites reinforced with inorganic fillers of dimensions in the nanometer range, known as nanocomposites, have attracted great interest from researchers, due to unexpected synergistic properties derived from the two components
Polymer nanocomposites (PN), i.e., polymer composites reinforced with inorganic fillers of dimensions in the nanometer range, have attracted a great interest of researchers, due to unexpected synergistic properties derived from the two components
Summary
The combination of two different materials, for instance polymeric, is a simple route for combining the attractive features of different materials in order to enhance the deficient characteristics of a particular material [1]. Differential scanning calorimetry has been widely applied in the investigation of numerous phenomena occurring during the thermal heating of organoclays and polymer/clay nanocomposites or nanotubes, involving glass transition (Tg), melting, crystallization and curing.
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