Fabrication of nanoprotrusion surface structured silica nanofibers for the improvement of the toughening of polypropylene

Abstract

The toughening of semi-crystalline polymers with inorganic nanofiller is very important in the practical applications of such polymers. In this study, we successfully fabricated the surface attaching silica nanoparticles of silica nanofibers (SiO 2 @SNFs) from the calcination of electrospun poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/tetraethyl orthosilicate/silica nanoparticle (PVP/TEOS/SiO 2 ) nanofibers for the toughening of polypropylene (PP). The SiO 2 @SNFs had a nanoprotrusion structured surface, and the degree of surface nanoprotrusion of the silica nanofibers (SNF) can be adjusted via the incorporated SiO 2 nanoparticle content of the SiO 2 @SNFs. The effects of the SiO 2 content of the SiO 2 @SNFs on the crystallization behavior, relative b-form crystal content, and mechanical properties of PP were investigated with polarized optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and notched Izod impact test methods. By comparison with SNF, the SiO 2 @SNFs showed greater improvements in the impact strength and heterogeneous crystal nucleation of PP at the same loading content of filler. The impact strength of PP/SiO 2 @SNFs at a loading of 2 wt% of SiO 2 @SNFs with 9 phr (SiO 2 /TEOS ¼ 9/100) of SiO 2 nanoparticles was improved by about 1.9 and 1.4 times that of neat PP and PP/SNFs composite (2 wt% of SNFs), respectively. However, the crystallinity, relative b-form crystal content, and tensile strength of PP/SiO 2 @SNFs were almost independent of the SiO 2 nanoparticle content of the SiO 2 @SNFs. Our results demonstrated that these nanoprotrusion surface structured silica nanofibers can be used as a novel nanofiller for improving the toughening of PP.

Effect of water on the breakdown and dielectric response of polypropylene/nano-aluminium nitride composites

“…A peak between 408 and 458 is evident in all samples, including the as-received PP. This is consistent with works with iPP [36,37], but few attempts to explain the source of this peak. We suggest that this peak can be related to the (100) and (101) planes of carbon-based impurity in the as-received iPP.…”

RETRACTED: Epoxy Resins Toughened with Surface Modified Epoxidized Natural Rubber Fibers by One-Step Electrospinning

“…The epoxy reinforced with carbon fibers composite showed 100% improvement in fracture toughness as 20% polycaprolactone nanofiber was incorporated into the epoxy composites to increase the interlaminar fracture toughness [ 11 ]. Electrospun poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/tetraethyl orthosilicate/silica nanoparticle nanofibers (2% loading) improved the fracture toughness by 1.9 times that of neat polypropylene resin [ 12 ]. Nanofibers composed of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) block copolymer as a rubbery core and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a hard sheath have been produced via coaxial electrospinning, and can be used to improve the toughness of epoxy matrix increased impact energy up to 150% [ 13 ].…”

Thermal, mechanical, and water vapor barrier behavior of polypropylene composite containing modified kaolinite

“…The intensity of (040) peak of iPP increased as the surface energy became higher when iPP film was crystallized on a silicon substrate modified with distinct silane coupling agents . A similar behavior was identified for composites PP/carbon nanotube, PP/silica nanofibers, and PP/clay …”