Investigation of the effect of titanium dioxide and clay grafted with glycidyl methacrylate by gamma radiation on the properties of EVA flexible films

Abstract

Many studies report that nanocomposites obtained by dispersion of a small amount nanofiller into the polymer have remarkable improvements achieved in the mechanical and physical properties. However, in order to achieve this great improvement in properties, it is necessary that the nanofillers be dispersed homogeneously into the polymeric matrix. Often this dispersion is difficult to achieve due to the high interfacial energy of the nanoparticles present. This study reports the effect of gamma irradiation induced graft of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto the surface of TiO2 and Clay nanofillers to improve their dispersion into the EVA matrix. The physical and mechanical properties of Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) flexible films with these nanoparticles were studied. EVA nanocomposite with adding of the different amount of TiO2 and modified montmorillonite clay grafted and un-grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) using gamma irradiation have been prepared by melt extrusion. The nanocomposite flexible films were produced using a flat die extrusion process. The PGMA-grafted nanofillers were characterized by XRD and TEM analysis. The flexible films were characterized by Tensile tests, ATR–FTIR, UV–VIS, XRD, TG, and FE-SEM analysis to understand the nature of the interaction between the nanofillers and EVA matrix. The results showed that the addition of PGMA-grafted TiO2 and Clay nanofillers into EVA matrix improved the bonding between the nanofillers and matrix. It was also found that the PGMA-grafted nanofillers could be well dispersed into an EVA matrix in contrast to that of un-grafted. The tensile strength and modulus of the resulting EVA/TiO2-PGMA enhanced in comparison to that of un-grafted TiO2. The EVA/Clay-PGMA had slightly decreased tensile strength comparable to that of EVA/Clay but had considerably improved elastic modulus. In addition, the flexible films based on TiO2 exhibited high UV–Vis light absorption with energy gap shifted to the visible region. The results demonstrated that TiO2 and Clay nanofillers grafted with GMA by gamma radiation can be used to prepare EVA flexible films with improved bonding between the nanofillers and matrix and, consequently, enhanced properties for food and cosmetic packaging application.