Investigation of the effect of aluminum oxide nanoparticle additives and gamma irradiation on the thermal behavior of syndiotactic polystyrene

Abstract

Syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) containing 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt % of aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles were prepared following the melt-mixing technique. The thermal behavior of the sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites was investigated through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and melt flow index (MFI). The DSC results indicated that for all sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites, the melting temperature (T m ), the melting enthalpy (ΔH m ), the crystallization temperature (T c ), and the glass transition temperature (T g ) increased with an increase in the Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles content. The TGA analysis indicated that the thermal stability of all nanocomposites is significantly enhanced after the addition of Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles with different contents. The activation energy was determined through two different models: the Coats-Redfern model and Broido's models were utilized to measure the activation energy of thermal decomposition by assuming first-order kinetics. The results of both methods have displayed a high level of agreement. Our study extended to study the MFI of the sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites. The MFI reduced when the Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles content increased. The effect of gamma irradiation on the thermal behavior of the sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles was also investigated at different gammaabsorbed doses. Significant modifications were observed in the thermal behavior of sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites after the irradiation process, and the experimental data indicated that the addition of Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites in small loading contents and gamma irradiation can significantly help improve the thermal properties of sPS. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3588-3600, 2019.FIG. 3. (a) The changes in melting temperature (tm) and (b) the changes in melting enthalpy (Hm) as a function of Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles content for the pure sPS and sPS/Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites before and after gamma irradiation. FIG. 7. Some plots of the Coats-Redfern method of thermal decomposition for (a) pure sPS, (b) sPS/3%Al 2 O 3 nanocomposite, and (c) sPS/5% Al 2 O 3 nanocomposite.

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Synthesis and characterization of gamma irradiated polyvinyl chloride/graphite carbon nitride nanocomposite films for electronic applications

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“…This is achieved by the distribution of tensile stress to the filler and polymer matrix. 23,24 Various commercial applications require the polymer to discharge an electrostatic charge and provide electrical conduction. MWCNTs have this property of electrical conductivity when present low content and thus, prove to be one of the ideal choices as filler.…”