Evaluation of thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties of metal-oxide dispersed HDPE nanocomposites

Abstract

In this work, synthesized Fe2O3, TiO2 and NiFe2O4 nanoparticles dispersed high density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer matrix based Fe2O3/HDPE, TiO2/HDPE, NiFe2O4/HDPE and (Fe2O3/TiO2/NiFe2O4/HDPE) nanocomposites were fabricated. A comparative study on their thermal properties, mechanical properties, optical properties, and DC electrical properties were performed. The highest Young’s modulus was found in the Fe2O3/HDPE composite which is 30.47% higher than the pure HDPE polymer alone. Hardness was improved in all composites, except for NiFe2O4/HDPE nanocomposite. Decreased resistivity was observed in NiFe2O4/HDPE composite only. The highest light absorption in UV–vis range was found in (Fe2O3/TiO2/NiFe2O4)/HDPE composite, also, the lowest optical band gap energy was found in TiO2/HDPE nanocomposite which is 48.88% lower than the pure HDPE polymer alone. All HDPE based nanocomposites showed improved thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties and they can be used in biomedical and electronic devices.