Effect of Chemical Foaming Agent in Enhancing Dispersion of Montmorillonite in Polypropylene Nanocomposite

Abstract

Homogenous dispersion of the nano particles in the polymer matrix is a key factor in order to achieve enhanced properties of the polymer nanocomposites. Dispersion or exfoliation of nano clay is difficult in the matrix during melt mixing. In this study, dispersion of nano montmorillonite (MMT) in polypropylene (PP) was done by using chemical foaming agent during melt mixing process. Chemical foaming agent (CFA) added (1 %wt.) PP/MMT nanocomposites were prepared on twin screw extruder. Then, injection molding was done to the granulated nanocomposites in order to obtain tensile test samples. Thermal test and morphological investigations were done. Tensile test was applied to observe the difference in mechanical strength of the nanocomposites depending on the presence of the foaming agent during melt mixing process. The results have shown that, dispersion of MMT enhanced in the matrix due to addition of chemical foaming agent. This brought improved tensile strength about 19% for the PP/MMT nanocomposites within same concentrations of nano filler.

A study of the cell morphology and mechanical properties of bumper material PP-T-EPDM composite foam

“…In addition, there are several studies in the literature that examine the effect of foaming agent ratio on the properties of polypropylene and polypropylene-based composites. 8,11,[28][29][30][31][32] Guo et al 11 studied polypropylene with branched and plain chain structure and concluded that the cell diameter decreased while cell density increased with the increase in azo-di-carbon-amide type foaming agent from 1 wt.% to 2 wt.% Cakir et al 28 investigated the effect of chemical foaming agent on mechanical properties of PP based foam materials. Chemical foaming agent was used in different proportions (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 wt.%).…”

“…There are numerous studies in the literature involved the foaming of the polyamide, polystyrene, polylactic aside (PLA), low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyoxymethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), epoxy polymers and ethylene-propylene-dien rubber (EPDM), epoxy and some rubber materials. 11-32 Hussein et al 16 studied the effect of the amount of endothermic sodium bicarbonate foaming agent on the mechanical and physical properties of epoxy foams. They stated that, viscosity increased, density, bending strength and flexural modulus values decreased with increasing the sodium bicarbonate amount.…”

“…In addition, the tensile modulus value increased with the increase in the amount of chemical foaming agent. Azguler et al 32 produced silane-added montmorillonite (MMT) PP composite foam using an endothermic foaming agent. The montmorillonite additive ratio in the PP matrix is 1, 3 and 5 wt.% and the foaming agent ratio was determined as 1 wt.%.…”