Abstract
Preparation of Polypropylene ternary nanocomposites (PPTN) was accomplished by blending multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in polypropylene/clay binary system using a melt intercalation method. The effects of MWCNT loadings (A), melting temperature (B) and mixing speed (C) were investigated and optimized using central composite design. The analysis of the fitted cubic model clearly indicated that A and B were the main factors influencing the tensile properties at a fixed value of C. However, the analysis of variance showed that the interactions between the process parameters, such as; AB, AC, AB 2 , A 2 B and ABC, were highly significant on both tensile strength and Young’s modulus enhancement, while no interaction is significant in all models considered for elongation. The established optimal conditions gave 0.17%, 165 °C, and 120 rpm for A, B and C, respectively. These conditions yielded a percentage increase of 57 and 63% for tensile strength and Young’s modulus respectively compared to the virgin Polypropylene used.
Highlights
Polypropylene is an important plastic, which offers probably the best quality among polyolefins at low cost [1, 2]
These were used in the preparation of ternary nanocomposite according to Table 1 below, the final Polypropylene ternary nanocomposites (PPTN) were tested for their tensile properties using ASTM D638, and the results were analyzed
The analysis of the results showed that the tensile strength of the composite produced at 250 °C melting temperature was lower than that at 170 °C for a fixed multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) loading and mixing speed
Summary
Polypropylene is an important plastic, which offers probably the best quality among polyolefins at low cost [1, 2]. Polypropylene has a lower density between 900 and 920 kg/m3, in comparison to other engineering materials, allowing for potential weight reductions, very good heat resistance and due to its higher crystallinity, it is an excellent moisture barrier and has good optical properties [3, 4] Polymers in their pure and natural state are either reinforced with organic fillers, such as sisal, flax, jute and wood fibres [5, 6], or particulate fillers, such as tack, CaCO3 and mica. Such polymer composites are credited with better properties relative to their parent matrix and have found a wide array of applications in the civil construction industries [7, 8]. Effort in the field of polymer microcomposite has reached the highest level of optimization because most times higher filler loading is usually required and affect the final material
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