Properties of polyamide‐zirconia nanocomposites prepared from sol‐gel technique

Abstract

Transparent nanocomposites were prepared by producing zirconia network in glassy polyamide matrix using sol-gel technique. Different amounts of tetrapropyl zirconate (TPZ) were added in polymer solution using anhydrous dimethylformamide as solvent. TPZ was hydrolyzed and condensed in situ in the matrix for the generation of inorganic networks using diethylamine. Thin and transparent films containing different proportions of zirconia were obtained by evaporating the solvent. Mechanical, dynamic mechanical thermal and morphological analyses of these films were carried out. An increase in tensile modulus was observed with the films containing zirconia contents up to 15 wt%, but the elongation at rupture was found to decrease sharply on further addition of zirconia. Toughness of the hybrid materials decreased with increased amount of zirconia. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) performed on the samples indicates an increase in the glass transition temperature; 1028C with pure polyamide to 1328C with polyamide containing 15 wt% zirconia contents. The storage modulus was also found to increase with increase in zirconia proportion in the matrix. The decrease in the storage modulus of the hybrids with rise in temperature was observed to be much smaller as compared with that of pure polymer. Thermal decomposition temperatures of the hybrids were found in the range of 450-5008C. The weights of the residues left at 7008C were nearly proportional to the zirconia contents in the original hybrids. The morphological studies suggest a uniform dispersion of zirconia domains in the matrix. POLYM. COMPOS., 30:95-100,

Synthesis and Characterization of Aromatic–Aliphatic Polyamide Nanocomposite Films Incorporating a Thermally Stable Organoclay

“…In this way, modifier attached chemically to the organoclay yielding mechanically stronger nanocomposites. Similarly, chemically bonded and unbonded nanocomposites based on polyamides have also been documented by the present authors using both sol-gel and solution intercalation techniques [5-7,23,24,26-28]. Enhancement in modulus results due to strong interactions through chemical and hydrogen bonding between the polyamide matrix and layered silicate.…”

Enhancement in electrical and stability properties of amorphous polymer based nanocomposite electrolyte

“…Clearly, the results demonstrate that nano filler dispersed phase PNCE has better thermal stability than that of PS film. Nanocomposites prepared from polyamides and ceramics have also shown identical improvement in thermal stability [31,32]. It is attributed to the role of filler as a superior thermal insulator and mass transport barrier to the volatile products generated during decomposition [33,34].…”

Probing the role of surface treated montmorillonite on the properties of semi-aromatic polyamide/clay nanocomposites

“…Some of their applications, however, require further property enhancements and the desired improvements can be obtained through incorporation of inorganic nano-fillers [35][36][37]. In recent years, polymer/clay nanocomposites, especially based on polyamides have attracted much attention because these hybrids have tremendous applications in coating, flame retarding, barrier and electronic materials [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. However, nanocomposites based on semi-aromatic polyamides have been given no attention.…”