• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.565-573
• /
• 2011

The nanocomposites containing graphene oxide (GO) were prepared in order to improve the mechanical properties of poly(methyl methacrylate)/aluminum hydroxide (PMMA/AH) composites. GO was prepared from graphite by oxidation of Hummers method followed by exfoliation with thermal treatment. The surface of GO was modified by oxygen plasma in various exposure times from 0 to 70 min to improve interfacial compatibility. Compared with PMMA/AH composites, the nanocomposites containing GO modified with oxygen plasma for the exposure time up to 50 min showed significant increases in flexural strength, flexural modulus, Rockwell hardness, Barcol hardness, and Izod impact strength. The morphology of fracture surface showed an improved interfacial adhesion between PMMA/AH composites and GO, which was properly treated with oxygen plasma. The mechanical properties of nanocomposites were deteriorated by increasing the content of GO above 0.07 phr due to the nonuniform dispersion of GO.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.290-299
• /
• 2006

This article investigated to polymer-clay nanocomposite, especially in interfacial respect clay structure, its dispersion into polymer matrix, and clay modification is studied. The cationic exchange of surfactants with clay gallery results in preparing organo-clay capable of compatiblizing to monomer or polymer and increasing interlayer adhesion energy due to expansion of interlayer spacing. The orientation of surfactant in clay gallery is affected by chemical structure and charge density of clay, and interlayer spacing and volume is increased with alkyl chain length of surfactant, or charge density of clay. Also, the interaction between clay and polymer in preparing polymer-clay nanocomposite is explained thermodynamically. In the future, the study and development of polymer-clay nanocomposite is paid attention to the interfacial adhesion, clay dispersion within polymer, mechanism of clay intercalation or exfoliation.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.173-178
• /
• 2016

In this short review, the polymer electrolyte membranes consisting of polymer and Ag salts were introduced and various approaches to solve the long-term stability were summarized. In particular, utilizing $AgNO_3$ as carriers with ionic liquid, the replacement of polymer matrix as poly(ethylene phthalate) (PEP) for strong coordinative interactions with Ag ions and the introduction of $Al(NO_3)_3$ to $polymer/AgBF_4$ complexes were introduced for long-term stable facilitated olefin transport membranes. For the polymer nanocomposite membranes, the role of electron acceptors as polarizer on the surface of AgNPs and the approach to solve the low permeance were introduced.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.423-430
• /
• 2013

In this research, a paramteric study to account for the effect of interfacial strength and nanotube agglomeration on the elastoplastic behavior of carbon nanotube reinforced polypropylene composites is performed. At first, the elastoplastic behavior of nanocomposites is predicted from molecular dynamics(MD) simulations. By combining the MD simulation results with the nonlinear micromechanics model based on the Mori-Tanaka model, a two-step domain decomposition method is applied to inversely identify the elastoplastic behavior of adsorption interphase zone inside nanocomposites. In nonlinear micromechanics model, the secant moduli method combined with field fluctuation method is used to predict the elastoplastic behavior of nanocomposites. To account for the imperfect material interface between nanotube and matrix polymer, displacement discontinuity condition is applied to the micromechanics model. Using the elastoplastic behavior of the adsorption interphase zone obtained from the present study, stress-strain relation of nanocomposites at various interfacial bonding condition and local nanotube agglomeration is predicted from nonlinear micromechanics model with and without the adsorption interphase zone. As a result, it has been found that local nanotube agglomeration is the most important design factor to maximize reinforcing effect of nanotube in elastic and plastic behavior.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.247-254
• /
• 2005

Chitosan film has potential applications in agriculture, food, and pharmacy. However, films made only from chitosan lack gas barrier and have poor mechanical properties. For enhanced gas barrier and mechanical properties, chitosan/clay nanocomposites have been prepared with montmorillonite (MMT) which is a layered structure of clays and chitosan. The cationic biopolymer, chitosan is intercalated into $Na^+-montmorillonite$ through cationic exchange and hydrogen bonding process. Diluted acetic acid is used as solvent f3r dissolving and dispersing chitosan. Chitosan was intercalated or exfoliated in MMT and it was confirmed by X-ray diffraction method. D-spacing of the characteristic peak from MMT plate in chitosan/clay nanocomposites was moved and diminished. The thermal stability and the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites are measured by TGA and Universal Testing Machine. Gas permeability through the chitosan/clay nanocomposites films decreased due to increased tortuosity made by intercalation of clay in chitosan.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.294-299
• /
• 2010

Clay-loaded polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites were fabricated via melt-compounding of two molecular weight ($M_w$) PPs (140 and 410 kg/mol) and octadecylammine-treated clay (C18MMT), with the assistance of maleic anhydride-grafted PP(PP-MAH), respectively, at $170^{\circ}C$ and $190^{\circ}C$. At both melt-compounding temperatures, the low-$M_w$ PP tends to easily diffuse into silicate layers, especially in the presence of the mobile PP-MAH, resulting in a marked increase in silicate layer spacing (above 58 $\AA$), when compared to 27 $\AA$ in the high-$M_w$ PP-based system. Due to relatively lower melt-viscosity of the low-$M_w$ PP-based system, however, there existed quasi-stacked clay aggregates with a thickness of 60~80 nm, while the high-$M_w$ PP-based nanocomposites showed relatively homogeneous dispersion of clays. The different morphologies are mainly related to changes in the viscoelastic properties of PPs, dependent on the processing temperature and their $M_{w}s$. The slight differences in nanocomposites induce discernible crystallization and mechanical behaviors. High-$M_w$ PP-based nanocomposites containing 1~3 wt% C18MMT showed improvement in both tensile strength and modulus, while maintaining the inherent ductility of pure PP.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.292-295
• /
• 2004

Recently, polymer-clay hybrid materials have received considerable attention from both a fundamental research and application point of view. This organ-inorganic hybrid, which contains a nanoscale dispersion of the layered silicates, is a material with greatly improved thermal and mechanical characteristics. Two classes of nanocomposites were synthesized using an unsaturated polyester resin as the matrix and sodium montmorillonite as well as an organically modified montmorillonite as the reinforcing agents. X -ray diffraction pattern of the composites showed that the interlayer spacing of the modified montmorillonite were exfoliated in polymer matrix. The mechanical properties also supported these findings, since in general, tensile strength, modulus with modified montmorillonite were higher than the corresponding properties of the composites with unmodified montmorillonite. Adding organically modified clay improved the tensile strength of unsaturated polyester by $22\%$ and the tensile modulus of unsaturated polyester was also improved by $34\%$.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.198-201
• /
• 2003

Aqueous emulsion of polyurethane (PU) ionomers were reinforced with hydrophobic nanosilica to give composites. The aqueous emulsion was stable and the particle size increased as the content of hydrophobic nanosilica was increased. The reinforcing effect of nanosilica in mechanical properties of these composites were examined by dynamic mechanical and tensile tests, and the Shore A hardness was measured. Enhanced thermal and water resistance and marginal reduction in transparency of these composites were observed compared with pristine polymer. These results were similar with those of our previous studies on waterborne PU/organoclay nanocomposites.

• Fibers and Polymers
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.103-108
• /
• 2002

The viscosity effect of matrix polymer on melt exfoliation behavior of an organoclay in poly($\varepsilon$-caprolactone) (PCL) was investigated. The viscosity of matrix polymer was controlled by changing the molecular weight of poly($\varepsilon$-eaprolactone), the processing temperature, and the rotor speed of a mini-molder. Applied shear stress facilitates the diffusion of polymer chains into the gallery of silicate layers by breaking silicate agglomerates down into smaller primary particles. When the viscosity of PCL is lower, silicate agglomerates are not perfectly broken into smaller primary particles. At higher viscosity, all of silicate agglomerates are broken down into primary particles, and finally into smaller nano-scale building blocks. It was also found that the degree of exfoliation of silicate layers is dependent upon not only the viscosity of matrix but thermodynamic variables.

• Carbon letters
• /
• v.2 no.3_4
• /
• pp.159-164
• /
• 2001

In this study, the effects of carbon black (CB) content and anodic oxidation treatment with $AgNO_3$ on positive temperature coefficient (PTC) behavior of CB/HDPE nanocomposites were investigated. Also, the addition of elastomer as a toughing agent was studied. The 20~50 wt% of CB, 0~5 wtt% of elastomer, and 1 wt% of $AgNO_3$-filled HDPE nanocomposites were prepared using the internal mixer in 60 rpm at $160{\circ}C$ and the compression-molded at $180{\circ}C$ for 10 min. As a result, the room temperature resistivity and PTC intensity of the composites were dependent, to a large extent, on the content of CB, addition of elastomer, and surface chemical properties that were controlled in the relative arrangements of the carbon black aggregates in a polymeric matrix. Moreover, the composites with relatively low room temperature resistivity and suitable PTC intensity could be achieved by treatment of $AgNO_3$. Consequently, it was noted that PTC effect was due to the deagglomeration or the breakage of the conductive networks caused by thermal expansion or crystalline melting of the polymeric matrix.