Modeling of mechanical behaviors and interphase properties of polymer/nanodiamond composites for biomedical products

Abstract

The interphase properties of polymer/nanodiamond (ND) composites have not been studied, although this class of materials has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this study, we investigate models for prediction of the mechanical behaviors and interphase properties of polymer/ND composites. Various powers of the filler volume fraction in the Pukanszky model for the tensile strengths of nanocomposites are considered to find the best power representing accurate data. The best power of 0.01 is obtained for the interfacial parameter (B) for all samples. B changes between 4.2409 and 4.7628, which suggests various strengths and thicknesses of the interphases in the samples. Some parameters in the Ji model have negligible effects on the nanocomposite modulus, so that the Ji model is simplified to obtain a better accuracy. The thickness of the interphase is calculated using the Ji model. A polyamide-66/ND sample has the thickest interphase because strong adhesions such as hydrogen bonding are generated between polyamide-66 and ND. Polymer/ND composites can be applied in biomedical products owing to their outstanding mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties.