Real Time Monitoring of Morphologic and Mechanical Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites During Extrusion by near Infrared and Ultrasonic Spectroscopy

Abstract

AbstractExtrusion is one of the most applied technologies for the processing of polymer nanocomposites for applications in automotive, electrical and packaging industrial sectors. These nanostructured materials have advantages in comparison to traditional polymer materials, so that properties like tensile strength and modulus, barrier and surface properties, electrical properties and flame retardancy will be improved. There is a need to control amount and dispersion of the nanofillers in the polymer matrix during melt processing and to control the influence of the processing conditions on the nanocomposite formation. For an adequate real time characterization it is necessary to measure directly in the extruder. Spectroscopic methods and Ultrasonic measurements are outstanding methods for this kind of in‐line monitoring.This paper deals with the real time determination of the dispersion and the impact strength of polymer nanocomposites in the melt during extrusion by Ultrasonic measurements and NIR spectroscopy. These in‐line measurements were correlated with off‐line rheological measurements, transmission electron microscopy and mechanical test measurements by multivariate data analysis. The polymers used are polypropylene and polyamide 6. As nanofillers we used different modified layered silicates. We determined the degree of exfoliation as an indicator for the dispersion of the nanofiller in the polymer matrix for different layered silicates and at different process conditions.