Mechanical properties and creep behavior of poly(trimethylene terephthalate)/mesoporous silica composites

Abstract

The poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) containing mesoporous silica (SBA‐15) prepared by in situ polymerization were used as the master batch in this work and mixed with the commercial PTT to fabricate PTT/mesoporous silica composites. The mechanical properties and viscoelastic behaviors such as creep and creep recovery of as‐obtained composite system were then studied in detail. The results reveal an evident reinforcing effect of the mesoporous SBA‐15 particles at the lower loading levels. Compared with those of the pure PTT, the tensile strength and impact strength of the composite with 0.5 wt% SBA‐15 particles increase by about 26% and 10%, respectively. This is attributed to the physical crosslinking between SBA‐15 and PTT chain caused by the mesoporous structure of SBA‐15 particle, which is confirmed by the increased glass transition temperature of the composites relative to the pure PTT. At the higher loading levels, however, the presence of mesoporous particle reduces the overall strength of PTT because the concentration of lower molecular weight PTT in the master batch also increases with increasing loading of SBA‐15. Therefore, superfluous addition of master batch has negative contribution to the mechanical strength of PTT composites. Besides, the composite system presents the higher creep levels and the lower recovery rates than the pure PTT, indicating that the presence of mesoporous SBA‐15 particles restrains the movements of PTT chain segments during creep and creep recovery. This is further confirmed by the viscoelastic model predictions. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:1386–1393, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers

Preparation of polycarbonate/poly(acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene)/mesoporous silica nanocomposite films and its rheological, mechanical, and sound absorption properties

“…Also, Liu et al . reported that the tensile strength and impact strength of the poly(trimethylene terephthalate) composite with 0.5 wt % of mesoporous silica (SBA‐15) particles increased by about 26% and 10%, respectively, which is attributed to the physical crosslinking between SBA‐15 and poly(trimethylene terephthalate) chain …”

“…Mesoporous material has been known as a very important basic material in many applicable research areas. It has been proved as an indispensable material in chemical, biological, electric, engineering, and fuel cell industry . Accordingly, nanocomposites prepared with polymer and mesoporous materials have been developed to find novel properties.…”

“…In this study, mesoporous silica and organosilicas were used as a compatibilizer of PC/ABS blends as well as additives to study the variation of mechanical and sound absorption properties. Until now, there is only one report to increase mechanical property using PS/ABS blend including mesoporous silicas which act as a reinforcing fillers . To study further about any positive effect of mesoporous materials, here, PC/ABS nanocomposites with several kinds of mesoporous (organo‐)silicas were prepared and its rheological and mechanical properties were investigated.…”