Effects of particle type on thermal and mechanical properties of polyoxymethylene nanocomposites

Abstract

AbstractThe effects of particle size of titanium dioxide (TiO2) on mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of pure polyoxymethylene (POM) and POM/TiO2 nanocomposites were investigated and compared with the results for nanoparticle ZnO in the same matrix, reported in a previous paper. POM/TiO2 nanocomposites with varying concentration of TiO2 were prepared by the melt mixing technique in a twin screw extruder, the same method that used for blending the homogeneous ZnO nanocomposites. The dispersion of TiO2 particles in POM nanocomposites was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The agglomeration, as observed by the mechanical properties of TiO2 particles in the polymer matrix, increased with increasing TiO2 content, a result not found for ZnO even at lower particle sizes. Increasing the filler content of POM/TD32.4 and POM/TD130 (130 nm) nanocomposites resulted in a decrease in tensile strength. The Young modulus, stress at break and impact strength of TiO2 nanocomposite did not improve with increasing filler contents, in opposition to the better agglomeration conditions of ZnO nanocomposite even at lower particle sizes. Because of agglomeration, the POM/TD32.4 nanocomposites had lower mechanical properties and lower degradation temperature than the POM/TD130 ones. The sizes of nanoparticles determined the agglomeration, but however, the agglomeration also depended on the type of nanoparticles, even when using the same matrix (POM) and the same mixing method. TiO2 nanoparticles were more difficult to mix and were more agglomerated in the POM matrix as compared to ZnO nanoparticles, regardless of the size of the nanoparticles. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012