Mechanical properties of transparent poly(methyl methacrylate) nanocomposites reinforced with core–shell polyacrylonitrile/poly(methyl methacrylate) nanofibers

Abstract

AbstractHaving considered the mechanical and optical properties related to microstructure, the authors of the present work did a study of the in situ interface formation between polyacrylonitrile/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PAN/PMMA) core–shell nanofibers and PMMA resin so as to prepare reinforced PMMA nanocomposites (NCs). The NCs were produced using the dip‐coating method. The core–shell nanofibers were generated via phase separation of PAN/PMMA solution during the conventional electrospinning. The results of attenuated total reflection‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometer confirmed the formation of core–shell structure of the PAN/PMMA nanofibers. According to the findings of the study, the NCs reinforced with 1.7% volume fractions (v f) of the core–shell nanofibers, having the composition of 50/50 (PAN/PMMA), had the highest tensile and bending properties. The obtained results showed that by increasing the v f of nanofibers from 1.7 to 2.9%, the tensile and bending moduli increased by 29.9 and 44.2%, respectively. Increasing v f to 5.7% decreased the just‐mentioned properties. Moreover, the transparency of NCs decreased by less than 1, 10, and 18%, respectively, when the aforementioned volume fractions were applied. The theoretical values for the tensile modulus were calculated using the models proposed by Manera, Pan, and Halpin–Tsai–Nielsen. The best prediction was made when the model proposed by Halpin–Tsai–Nielsen was applied.