Nanofibrillar Single Polymer Composites of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Abstract

Using the experience gained from the development of polymer–polymer nanofibrillar composites (NFCs), an attempt was undertaken to manufacture PET single polymer nanofibrillar composites. For this purpose polypropylene (PP) was removed by selective extraction from a knitted textile manufactured with PP/PET (80:20 by wt) blend. The remaining PET nanofibrillar textile was then sandwiched between lower‐melting PET films and compression molded at 120 °C. The obtained PET single polymer NFCs comprised PET nanofibrils as reinforcement and showed an improvement in the tensile strength and modulus of 37–100 and 40–140%, respectively (depending on the annealing temperature after compression molding and the test direction) compared to those of the starting isotropic matrix film.magnified image

Nano‐ and Microfibrillar Single‐Polymer Composites: A Review

“…This peculiarity of PET allows one to prepare completely amorphous, transparent films via quenching the polymer melt. Duhovic et al51 explored this opportunity recently and prepared nanofibrillar SPCs from PET. For this purpose the authors used their experience gained from the development of polymer‐polymer micro‐ (MFC)52 and nanofibrillar composites (NFC) 53, 54.…”

“…Novel SPCs will be produced by combining new methods (e.g., electrospinning of fibers) with well established ones (e.g., film stacking). Microfibrillar and nanofibrillar SPCs, recently developed by Fakirov et al,4, 6, 22, 23, 51, 52, 55, 66, 67, 72, 73, 79, 83, 84, 97, 101 may be of great practical relevance. In addition to their excellent mechanical performance, they represent an attractive way to achieve a uniform nanoscale dispersion of the reinforcing constituent.…”

Extraction of nanofibers from polymer blends: A brief review

“…Duhovic et al produced PET single polymer nanofibrillar composites . A knitted textile manufactured with PP/PET (80/20 by weight) blend and then polypropylene (PP) was removed by selective extraction and PET nanofibrillar textile was then sandwiched between lower‐melting PET films and compression molded at 120°C to obtain PET single polymer nanofibrillar composites comprised PET nanofibrils as reinforcement and showed an improvement in the tensile strength and modulus .…”

“…Duhovic et al produced PET single polymer nanofibrillar composites . A knitted textile manufactured with PP/PET (80/20 by weight) blend and then polypropylene (PP) was removed by selective extraction and PET nanofibrillar textile was then sandwiched between lower‐melting PET films and compression molded at 120°C to obtain PET single polymer nanofibrillar composites comprised PET nanofibrils as reinforcement and showed an improvement in the tensile strength and modulus . In another attempt, for preparation of nanofibrillar composite materials using single‐polymer nanofibrils as starting materials, the opportunity to isolate neat nanofibrils through selective dissolving of the second blend component is described by Fakirov et al The resulting nanofibrillar single‐polymer composites compete with glass‐fiber–reinforced PET.…”

Nanofibrillar Polymer‐Polymer Composites: Effect of Reinforcement Orientation on the Mechanical Properties

“…In order to determine the characteristics of the nanofibrils, such as aspect ratio and diameter it was necessary to isolate them from the matrix. In addition, to determine if single polymer composites could be prepared from the nanofibrils as had been done in previous studies [16,18] the isolation was done carefully to try and maintain the orientation of the nanofibrils. To prepare neat fibrils from the nanofibril loaded yarn, a modified [19] Soxhlet extractor was used.…”