During the past decade, polymer nanocomposites have emerged as a novel and rapidly developing class of materials and attracted considerable investment in research and development worldwide. However, there is currently a lack of information available in the literature on the nano and ultrafine particle emission rates from these materials. In this paper, influence of nanoclay on mechanical drilling of PA6 composites, in terms of dust generation, has been reported. With the help of real-time characterization, submicrometer-sized particles (5.6–512 nm), size distribution, and number concentration emitted from polyamide 6/nanoclay composites during mechanical drilling are studied. Total particle concentration for the PA6/nanoclay composites was 20,000 cm−3, while unreinforced panel measured a total concentration of approximately 400,000 cm−3. While the airborne particle concentration for the PA6/nanoclay composites was 20 times lower than for the PA6 matrix, the concentration of deposited nanoparticles doubled for the nanocomposite. The results clearly show that more particles in the size range between 175 and 350 nm are generated, during drilling of the nanocomposites, and these particles deposit in a shorter time. It is likely that the presence of nanoclay in some way retains the formation of high quantity of airborne particles and promotes particle deposition.

CopyrightItems in 'OpenAIR@RGU', Robert Gordon University Open Access Institutional Repository, are protected by copyright and intellectual property law. If you believe that any material held in 'OpenAIR@RGU' infringes copyright, please contact openair-help@rgu.ac.uk with details. The item will be removed from the repository while the claim is investigated. ABSTRACT. Sandwich panels were fabricated with nanoclay filled polyurethane foams and glass fiber reinforced polyamide (PA6) and polypropylenes (PP) face sheets. Nanoclay filled foam cores, with organophilic montmorillonite loadings of 0-10 wt.%, were synthesised through polyaddition of the polyol premix with 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and bound to the injected moulded face sheets. Produced sandwich structures were then subjected to low energy impact (15J) tests under localised point and surface loads, in an instrumented impact test setup. Additionally, quasi static compressive behaviour of the sandwiches panels was studied. The results showed that the addition of nanoclay in the PU foam core, improved both energy absorption and maximal deflection during impact.The improvement in energy absorption was between 66-92% for PP face sheet sandwiches and 23-34% for the PA6 face sheet sandwiches during point load.Furthermore, an increase of the compression modulus of 20-37% was recorded for the sandwiches with PA6 face sheets.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract