Use of new synthetic talc as reinforcing nanofillers for polypropylene and polyamide 6 systems: Thermal and mechanical properties

Synthetic silico-metallic mineral particles (SSMMP) as nanofillers: comparing the effect of different hydrothermal treatments on the PU/SSMMP nanocomposites properties

“…Table 1 shows BET measurements for the synthetic SSMMP obtained by the two different process conditions. The results corroborate the literature data evidencing that for synthetic SSMMP the BET values are much higher than the value of natural talc (maximum around 20 m 2 g -1 ) [7,8].…”

“…The X-ray d 001 -spacing calculated for the SSMMP 24 h of 1.17 and 1.02 nm for the SSMMP 7 h is close to the value found in the literature [7]. The XRD pattern for SSMMP presents broader and not intense peaks, indicating that the SSMMP are formed by coherent domains with a small number of layers [8], consequently, the crystal sizes of the SSMMP are smaller than those of natural talc which presents a XRD spectrum with well-defined and intense peaks [6]. The coherency scattering domain calculated from (001) peak broadening using Scherrer formula (1918), suggested by Dumas et al [7] was 20 nm (17 layers) for SSMMP 24 h and 12 nm (12 layers) for SSMMP 7 h.…”

“…Especially, there are many researches on the effect of talc on the mechanical properties, thermostability, crystallizability and rheology of polypropylene/talc composites [8,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Yousfi et al reported the use of new synthetic talc as nanofiller reinforcement for polypropylene and polyamide 6 systems [8] and polypropylene/polyamide 6 blends [27], and our group noticed the use of new synthetic talc-Ni as filler to produce polyurethane nanocomposites [28].…”

“…, resulting in an inhomogeneity in the chemical structure, crystalline phase, and size distribution [6][7][8]. One way to solve this problem is the production of synthetic SSMMP with a well-defined chemical composition and high purity, besides the possibility of the control of the crystallinity, the particle size and the layer thickness [7,8]. For example, by varying a few tens of degrees the temperature of hydrothermal reaction, the average particle size can vary by several hundreds of nanometers [7].…”

“…Natural talc is difficult to disperse in water and considered to be hydrophobic and more compatible with polymer matrix; it has been widely used as an effective filler in polymer, such as polyethylene [9], polyamide [8,10], polylactide [11], polyurethane [12], PU/PP blends [13,14], poly(lactic acid) [15,16] composites, to improve their properties. Especially, there are many researches on the effect of talc on the mechanical properties, thermostability, crystallizability and rheology of polypropylene/talc composites [8,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”