The Effect of Melt Extrusion Process Parameters on Rotary‐Evaporated Poly(propylene) Nanocomposites

Abstract

Design of experiments is employed to investigate the interrelationships between processing and nanotube surface chemistry on the properties of PP nanocomposites. Statistically significant effects of nanomaterial type and concentration, extrusion temperature, screw speed, and recirculation time, and their interactions, on nanocomposite thermal properties and stability are isolated. The effects of these factors on the shear storage modulus, the lowfrequency slope of the shear storage modulus, decomposition temperature, and melt temperature are explored. Nanotube concentration has the most significant effect in enhancing the decomposition temperature of the nanocomposite, while long extrusion time and higher temperatures lead to deteriorated properties.