Effect Of Nanoclay Research Articles

The Effect of Nanoclay and Hybrid Filler on Curing Characteristics, Mechanical Properties and Swelling Resistance of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate/Styrene Butadiene Rubber Blend Composite

The Effect of Nanoclay and Hybrid Filler on Curing Characteristics, Mechanical Properties and Swelling Resistance of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate/Styrene Butadiene Rubber Blend Composite

Improving mechanical and thermal properties of high-density polyethylene/wood flour nanocomposites

In the present research, mechanical and thermal properties of high-density polyethylene/wood flour were improved by incorporating nanoclay (Cloisite 30B) and antioxidant (Irganox B225) in the compound. Design of experiments was carried out to optimize composition among nine compounds and to investigate the effect of nanoclay and antioxidant (0–5 phr) and (0–0.4 phr), respectively. The results of mechanical tests showed approximately 24% increase in the tensile strength of compounds containing 2.5 and 5.0 part per hundred (phr) of the nanoclay in the composite compared with the same samples without nanoclay. The tensile modulus of composites increased 7.3% by increasing the level of nanoclay from 0 to 2.5 phr. However, a further increase in the nanoclay content led to a 4.3% decrease in tensile modulus. Evaluation of the thermal oxidation stability of samples confirmed that the thermal oxidation of composites decreased with increasing nanoclay from 0 to 5.0 phr and increased significantly with the addition of the antioxidant.

The Combined Effect of Nanoclay and alpha-tocopherol on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Polyethylene Active Packaging

The Combined Effect of Nanoclay and alpha-tocopherol on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Polyethylene Active Packaging

Effect of nanoclay on dispersion, thermal stability, optical and burning behavior of sulfonated poly (1,4-phenylene ether ether sulfone)–nanoclay blends

A novel hydrophobic, thermoset film-forming polymer poly (1,4-phenylene ether ether sulfone) (PEES) was sulfonated on its polymer backbone by using conc H2SO4. The nanocomposite of sulfonated PEES (SPEES) was formed by using pretreated nanoclay with different loading labels 2.5%, 5% and 10% and was cast in the form of films. Pure PEES, SPEES, pure nanoclay and SPEES nanocomposites were characterized by using FTIR and UV–visible spectrophotometry. The thermal behavior of pure SPEES and SPEES nanoclay composites was studied by using thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimeter. It was found that by using nanoclay as filler, the thermal decomposition of SPEES–nanoclay composite increases compared to that of neat SPEES. The Tg shows wide variations with different loading labels of the nanoclay. Increase in UV absorption with the addition of nanoclay loading level was studied by using UV spectrophotometry.

Bio‐based engineered nanocomposite foam with enhanced mechanical and thermal barrier properties

ABSTRACTBio‐based polyurethane (PU) foams were developed from bio‐polyol (castor oil‐based) in the presence of selective catalyst, surfactant, and blowing agent. Bentonite nanoclay (NC) was incorporated into the bio‐polyol mixture as nano‐reinforcement, while, triethyl phosphate was used as flame‐retardant agent. After fabrication, these bioengineered foam nano‐composites were studied for microstructural, mechanical and thermal characterizations. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated the presence of characteristic functionalities within biopolyol segments, which was influenced by reactant activity within the polyurethane (PU) foams. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the cellular morphology of the foam. Thermogravimetric analysis enabled the study of foam decomposition behavior for different sample compositions. Incorporation of NC into pristine foam was found to delay the onset degradation temperature. Flammability studies depicted significant enhancement of flame retardancy with incorporation of NC up to a certain loading level. Compression tests demonstrated that significant improvement of compressive strength properties of foams could be achieved by incorporating bentonite nanoclay, owing to nucleation effect of nanoclay and corresponding enhanced structural integrity. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47063.

Effect of nanoclay on mechanical and thermal properties of triblock SBS (styrene–butadiene–styrene) and its binary blend nanocomposites: comparison between polyethylene and polystyrene

ABSTRACTIn this study, the effect of organo-modified nanoclay (OMMT) on the mechanical and thermal properties of SBS and its blend with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene was investigated. The effect of nanoclay content in the presence of LDPE or PS on the final properties of SBS was studied by tensile tester, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Addition of nanoclay affected the mechanical and rheological properties. From X-ray and DMTA results, it was found that due to more affinity between the nanoparticles and the SBS/PE blend, the 2 theta characteristic peak of nanoclay shifted to lower angles. SEM studies showed better dispersion and lower inter-particle distance of nanoparticles in SBS/PE composites in comparison with SBS/PS and SBS composites, confirming the XRD and DMTA results. It can be concluded that nanoclay acts as a compatibilizer in the SBS/LLDPE blend. TGA studies showed higher stability of SBS/PS composites compared to SBS and SBS/PE ones.

Effect of Organo-Modified Nanoclay on the Mechanical Properties of Sugar Palm Fiber-reinforced Polyester Composites

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nanoclay on the mechanical properties of sugar palm fiber-reinforced polyester composites. Organo-modified nanoclay (OMMT) was dispersed in unsaturated polyester resin at various weight contents from 1% to 5% using a mechanical stirrer. Naturally woven sugar palm fibers were reinforced in the nanoclay-modified resin, which were then hot compressed to form the composites. The effect of the OMMT weight content on the tensile, flexural, and impact properties of the composites were analyzed. The addition of OMMT resulted in a noticeable improvement in all of the investigated properties, until a certain weight percentage. The tensile properties showed the best improvements at a 2% nanoclay content. However, the 4% nanoclay content resulted in the best enhancements to the flexural and impact properties.

Impact of Tunisian clay nanofillers on structure and properties of post-consumer polypropylene-based nanocomposites

This study investigates the influence of clay nanofiller on morphological, thermal, and mechanical behaviors of post-consumer polypropylene (PCPP)-based nanocomposites. Waste polypropylene was mixed with 1%, 3%, 5%, and 7% of Tunisian clay nanoparticles using twin-screw extruder. The structure and morphology of raw, purified, and organo-modified clays were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The influence of clay nanoparticles content on the thermal behavior of waste polypropylene was studied by means of thermogravimetric analysis. The effect of nanoclay on morphology and properties of PCPP/clay nanocomposites was also studied. It was found from transmission electron microscopy and XRD analysis that clay nanoparticles are well dispersed into PCPP matrix and the addition of organo-modified Tunisian clay did not change the crystal structure of the PCPP polymer. Thus, organically modified Tunisian clay can be used for preparing organic–inorganic hybrids by melt processing with waste PP polymers. In dead, by varying the nanofiller loading, mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break) and thermal stability of filled PCPP showed an increase as compared to unfilled polymer. Optimal mechanical performances were obtained with 5% clay loading.

Effects of Nanoclay on the Treatment of Core Material in Earth Dams

AbstractThe main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of nanoclay on the hydraulic conductivity of compacted clayey sands as an earth dam core material. Furthermore, other mechanica...

The Effects of Nanoclay on Mechanical Properties of High Density Polyethylene and Polypropylene Materials

The Effects of Nanoclay on Mechanical Properties of High Density Polyethylene and Polypropylene Materials

Enhancing thixotropy of fresh cement pastes with nanoclay in presence of polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer (PCE)

Nanoclay, a thermal treated, purified attapulgite clay, has been used to increase thixotropy. However, the effect of nanoclay in presence of water reducing agent, such as PCE, on rheology, and the compatibility between nanoclay and PCE have not been well studied. The dynamic yield stress, thixotropic index, characteristic time, and microstructure of fresh cement pastes with combination of nanoclay and PCE addition are measured. It is found that nanoclay has a good compatibility with PCE. Nanoclay increases the dynamic yield stress and enhances the thixotropy of fresh cement pastes with and without PCE addition. The nanoclay addition agglomerates the microstructure at high PCE addition and increases the thixotropic index from bottom value to a high value. This study gives insight of achieving low dynamic yield stress yet high static yield stress and thixotropy mixtures.

Polysaccharide and poly(methacrylic acid) based biodegradable elastomeric biocompatible semi-IPN hydrogel for controlled drug delivery

Nanoparticles embedded semi-interpenetrating (semi-IPNs) polymeric hydrogels with enhanced mechanical toughness and biocompatibility could have splendid biomedical acceptance. Here we propose poly(methacrylic acid) grafted polysaccharide based semi-IPNs filled with nanoclay via in situ Michael type reaction associated with covalent crosslinking with N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA). The effect of nanoclay in the semi-IPN hydrogel has been investigated which showed significant improvement of mechanical robustness. Meanwhile, the hydrogels showed reversible ductility up to 70% in response to cyclic loading-unloading cycle which is an obvious phenomenon of rubber-like elasticity. The synthesized semi-IPN hydrogel show biodegradability and non-cytotoxic nature against human cells. The live-dead assay showed that the prepared hydrogel is a viable platform for cell growth without causing severe cell death. The in vitro drug release study in psychological pH (pH = 7.4) reveals that the controlled drug release phenomena can be tuned by simulating the environment pH. Such features in a single hydrogel assembly can propose this as high performance; biodegradable and non-cytotoxic 3D scaffold based promising biomaterial for tissue engineering.

Effect of Nanoclay on the Corrosion Protection Efficiency of UP/CuEDA2-MMT Nanocomposite Coatings Assessed by EIS Measurements

Unsaturated polyester/montmorillonite nanocomposite were obtained and characterized. Montmorillonite (MMT) used as inorganic filler was modified with incorporation of metal complexes (CuEDA2Cl2). The effect of chemical modification of this clay on the mechanical properties of unsaturated polyester matrix was analyzed. The results clearly show that the incorporation of copper complexes in the clay (CuEDA2-MMT) caused a desired effect on its final properties improving the performance of the nanocomposites. The improvement could be directly related to the dispersion of the clay inside the matrix, as shown by scanning electron microscopy. The ultraviolet-visible spectra showed that the absorbance of unsaturated polyester films increased with incorporation of complexed clay CuEDA2-MMT, especially at wavelengths of 300–500 nm. The corrosion performance of unsaturated polyester nanocomposite coating stainless steel was realized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The corrosion protection of steel coating UP was increased after incorporation of clay montmorillonite and with CuEDA2-MMT.

Fatigue properties of nano-reinforced bituminous mixtures: A viscoelastic continuum damage approach

The experimental investigation described in this paper focused on the effects of nanoclays on the fatigue behaviour of bituminous mixtures. Damage characteristics of a bituminous mixture produced by making use of a nano-reinforced binder were compared to those of a reference mixture obtained by employing the same neat bitumen used as a base in the preparation of the nanoclay–bitumen blend. Dynamic modulus tests and direct tension cyclic fatigue tests were carried out to determine the linear viscoelastic properties and the damage evolution characteristics of materials. Corresponding results were modelled by means of a viscoelastic continuum damage approach and by making use of a more empirical evaluation based on the classical Wöhler representation. It was found that the use of nanoclays produced a reinforcement of bituminous mixtures, the benefits of which were observed both in the progression of damage and in the occurrence of ultimate failure conditions.

Physical properties and morphology of electrospun composite fiber mats of polyhydroxyalkanoate containing nanoclay and tricalcium phosphate additives

Recently, nanofiber research has gained substantial attention from scientists. In this study, the main component of the nanofiber sheet is polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymer, which is strong, ductile, flexible and adhesive to human skin. Two major additives of nanofiber sheet that we applied are nanoclay and tricalcium phosphate. The additives are generally synthetic substances that can be chemically synthesized and compatible with tissues body. Nanoclay has a low density, strong, durable to compressive strength and humidity. While, tricalcium phosphate is a calcium phosphate ceramic that is biocompatible to human tissue. From the reasons above, we proposed to choose both nanoclay and tricalcium phosphate for adding into PHA nanofibers for film formation. Thus, this study aims to investigate the morphological and mechanical properties of the fiber mat by using PHA added with various amount of nanoclay and tricalcium phosphate at 0.1%, 1% and 10% by weight, and fabricate nanofiber samples by electrospinning technique. The tested results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) morphology show that the fibers have a uniformed pattern. The PHA containing nanoclay of all additive contents exhibited micrometer diameter distributions, while PHA loaded with 1% tricalcium phosphate still had the nano-scale diameter range, and might be the optimum additive load for further nanometer medical applications. A tensile test was performed to determine the effect of nanoclay and tricalcium phosphate contents on the mechanical properties of the electrospun PHA films, and reflect the level of modularity. With nanoclay components being integrated into the polymer matrix, subsequent reduction in fiber crystallinity was occurred after addition of nanoclay with an increase of modulus value. The results confirmed that PHA fiber mat containing 1% nanoclay may have a potential for using as a rigid scaffold which bearing force loading in human organ system. Whereas, it can be indicated that PHA fiber mat containing 1% tricalcium phosphate might be employed as a flexible scaffold for biomedical materials application due to a high elongation at break value.

Study of extrudability and standoff distance effect during nanoclay-enabled direct printing

Nanoclay-enabled self-supporting printing has been emerging as a promising filament-based extrusion fabrication approach for different biomedical and engineering applications including tissue engineering. With the addition of nanoclay powders, liquid build materials may exhibit solid-like behavior upon extrusion and can be directly printed in air into complex three-dimensional structures. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of nanoclay on the extrudability of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and the effect of standoff distance on the print quality during nanoclay-enabled direct printing. It is found that the addition of nanoclay can significantly improve the NIPAAm extrudability and effectively eliminate die swelling in material extrusion. In addition, with the increase of standoff distance, deposited filaments change from over-deposited to well-defined to stretched to broken, the filament width decreases, and the print fidelity deteriorates. A mathematical model is further proposed to determine the optimal standoff distance to achieve better print fidelity during nanoclay-enabled direct printing. Based on the extrudability and standoff distance knowledge from this study, NIPAAm–Laponite nanoclay and NIPAAm–Laponite nanoclay–graphene oxide nanocomposite hydrogel precursors are successfully printed into a three-layered one-dimensional responsive pattern, demonstrating the good extrudability and print quality during nanoclay-enabled printing under optimal printing conditions.

Effect of nanoclay, glass fiber volume and orientation on tensile strength of epoxy-glass composite and optimization using Taguchi method

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to manufacture test boards for re-enacting plant or field situations where vacuum chamber for expelling gas bubbles and autoclave equipment would not be accessible. This research focuses on the examination and enhancement of tensile strength for the nanocomposites consisting of uniaxial glass fiber mats, nanoclay (NC) and epoxy.Design/methodology/approachThe parameters considered are the weight content of Cloisite 15A NC, the volume of glass fiber (Vgf) and the direction of glass fibers (θ). The composites are made by hand lay-up technique and tested according to ASTM D 638 standard. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array is used to design the experiments.FindingsThe results imply that the orientation of fibers exhibited high significance with a p-value of 0.001 for the upgrade of strength. NC percentage and the volume of fiber have a low effect as the p-values obtained were 0.375 and 0.294. Confirmation tests were performed at the optimal levels of parameters and the outcomes were in the permissible range of the anticipated values of S/N ratio and mean tensile strength. The negligible effect of nanoclay is due to the lack of infusion of resin into the d-spacing of clay layers due to the low configuration settings of mixing conditions which was confirmed by XRD studies. The negligible effect of glass fiber volume is due to the void content and lack of stress transfer between fibers uniformly due to the void content and improper mixing of nanoclay.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this study is that a low-speed mechanical stirrer was used to mix NC in the epoxy and the mixture was not subjected to vacuum and ultrasonication for degassing and deagglomeration.Practical implicationsThese composites can be used as substitute materials in place of metallic parts in the aerospace and automobile sector. These composites can be used in civil structures instead of steel and concrete, which have low strength-to-weight ratio and where the requirement of strength is in the range of 60 to 390 MPa.Social implicationsThe composites can be used in a variety of applications, for example, structural works, automotive panels and low-cost housing.Originality/valueThis research gives an idea about the combined contribution of NC, Vgf and “θ” to the improvement of tensile strength of the glass-epoxy composite.

Effects of the Nanoclay and Crosslinking Systems on the Mechanical Properties of Ethylene-propylene-diene Monomer/styrene Butadiene Rubber Blends Nanocomposite

This paper investigates the effect of nanoclay and crosslinking systems on the cure characteristics, mechanical properties, abrasion resistance, compression set and swelling properties of ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM)/styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) blends. Nanocomposites were prepared by two-roll mill. In this work, three different crosslinking systems were used, namely, sulphur, dicumyl peroxide and the mixed system consisting of sulphur and peroxide. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, 100% modulus, hardness, crosslink density and tear strength of the EPDM/SBR nanocomposites were studied. Cure study indicates that nanoclay not only accelerates the curing reactions but also gives rise to a noticeable increase of the torque values, representing crosslinking density of the nanocomposites increases at the existence of nanoclay. The tensile strength and 100% modulus of EPDM/SBR nanocomposites increases with increase in nanoclay content up to 7.5 phr and then decreases for all the different cross-linking system. The elongation at break, hardness, tear strength and compression set increases with increasing content of nanoclay.

Effect of nanoclay and bolt preloads on the strength of bolted joints in glass epoxy nanocomposites

The present work deals with the effect of different molding parameters and bolt pretension on the performance of single-lap joints. Bolt joints were prepared from woven glass fiber reinforced laminates incorporating nanoclay content which was varied from 0 to 5 wt%. Curing parameters for the nanocomposite manufacturing were optimized using the Taguchi method. Different geometric parameters, i.e., edge distance-to-hole diameter (E/D) ratio and width-to-hole diameter (W/D) ratio, were varied over the range of 2–5. To analyze the effect of bolt preloads, different levels of preloads, i.e., 0, 3, and 5 Nm, were considered for the failure analysis of the joint. Progressive damage analysis along with the characteristic curve method and Hashin failure criteria was performed to predict the failure load and failure modes in the bolted joints, numerically. Failure load was improved by 19 and 37% for joints with 3 and 5 Nm torque, respectively.

Rigid Polyurethane Nanocomposites Prepared by Direct Incorporation: Effects of Nanoclay, Carbon Nanotubes and Mixing Speed on Physical and Morphological Properties

Rigid polyurethane (PU) nanocomposites were fabricated via solution mixing of PU, nanoclay and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) according to full factorial DoE. The nanoclay and MWCNT concentration as well as mixing speed were varied. The effects of controlled variables on reduced compressive strength, fire retardancy, hardness and morphological properties were analized. In general, the results showed that incorporation of nanofillers into PU matrix successfully elevated nanocomposites performance. The properties changed from -12% to 45% for reduced compressive strength, 9% to 30% for reduced fire retardancy and -32% to 101% for reduced hardness. The results suggested that the improvements were affected by nanoclay dispersion that acted as nucleating agent which resulted in smaller close cells of PU structures.