Evaluation of nanoparticle dispersion and its influence on the tensile modulus of polymer nanocomposites by a modeling method

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of nanoparticle dispersion on the tensile modulus of polymer nanocomposites is discussed by a two-step modeling technique. The nanoparticles and neighboring polymer chains are assumed as two-phase particles. At the next step, the nanocomposite is assumed as a composite which includes the polymer matrix and two-phase particles. The tensile moduli of two-phase particles and nanocomposites are predicted by proper models to estimate the dispersion quality of nanoparticles in a polymer matrix. The predictions of the suggested approach are evaluated by various experimental data, and the effects of the main parameters on the calculated modulus are explained. A good agreement is obtained between the experimental results of the tensile modulus and the predictions at a proper level of nanoparticle dispersion. The outputs of this method reveal that the mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites depend more on the quality of nanoparticle dispersion compared to the nanoparticle characteristics.