Studies on Physico-Mechanical, Thermal and Morphological Properties of Silica/Fumed Silica and Various Nanoclay Dispersed Polymer Nanocomposites

• Main Author: Lai, Josephine Chang Hui.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: unimas 2016
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery; TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/21022/3/Josephine.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/21022/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

The improvement of value-added polymer nanocomposites from low-quality polymers through advanced technology presents an excellent opportunity to maximize the applications of polymer nanocomposites on polymer industry in Malaysia. Nanotechnology with solution intercalation, condensation polymerization, free radical polymerization and solution intercalation film-casting technique has become predominantly attractive to improve physicomechanical, morphological and thermal properties. The above mentioned techniques with the combination of nanofillers will enhance the quality of nanocomposites. In this study, PVA silica-clay (PVA-si-clay), PVA-fumed silica-clay (PVA-fsi-clay), phenol formaldehyde fumed silica-clay (PF-fsi-clay), styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate-fumed silica-clay (ST-co GMA-fsi-clay) and polylactic acid-fumed silica-clay (PLA-fsi-clay) nanocomposites were characterized using morphological analysis (Scanning electron microscopy), surface chemistry analysis (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and elemental analysis (X-ray fluorescence). Mechanical properties of these nanocomposites were characterized by tensile test. The thermal analysis was conducted by using Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).