Pseudo-Ductility, Morphology and Fractography Resulting from the Synergistic Effect of CaCO3 and Bentonite in HDPE Polymer Nano Composite

Abstract

Polymeric materials such as High density polyethylene(HDPE) are ductile in nature, having very low strength. In order to improve strength by non-treated rigid fillers, polymeric materials become extremely brittle. Therefore, this work focuses on achieving pseudo-ductility (high strength and ductility) by using a combination of rigid filler particles (CaCO3 and bentonite) instead of a single non-treated rigid filler particle. The results of all tensile-tested (D638 type i) samples signify that the microstructural features and surface properties of rigid nano fillers can render the required pseudo-ductility. The maximum value of tensile strength achieved is 120% of the virgin HDPE, and the value of elongation is retained by 100%. Furthermore, the morphological and fractographic analysis revealed that surfactants are not always going to obtain polymer–filler bonding, but the synergistic effect of filler particles can carry out sufficient bonding for stress transfer. Moreover, pseudo-ductility was achieved by a combination of rigid fillers (bentonite and CaCO3) when the content of bentonite dominated as compared to CaCO3. Thus, the achievement of pseudo-ductility by the synergistic effect of rigid particles is the significance of this study. Secondly, this combination of filler particles acted as an alternative for the application of surfactant and compatibilizer so that adverse effect on mechanical properties can be avoided.

Tribological and morphological properties of bentonite nano‐clay/CaCO3 reinforced high‐density polyethylene nanocomposites

“…Similar descriptions of CaCO 3 particles are given in the study of Minkowicz et al 17 CaCO 3 used together with the nano clay powder showed enhanced compatibility resulting in a high stress transfer from the matrix to the particles. The adequate dispersion can be confirmed from the details in our previous study 18 and also the details following herein.…”

“…We count the properties of (a) reorientation of clay in a sliding direction, (b) solid compatibilization, and (c) “dismantling” of clay layers as pivotal in polymer tribology for enhancing the wear properties of polymeric materials. Further, in the case of pseudo‐ductility, the clay layers reorient in the direction opposite to crack generation and crack propagation 18 …”

“…Further, in the case of pseudo-ductility, the clay layers reorient in the direction opposite to crack generation and crack propagation. 18 The flakes appeared to be identical due to an identical wear process resulting under the same type of dry sliding wear process. As a result of the identical wear process identical flakes were generated and then broken due to identical surface roughness as appearing in the SEM image included (Figure 11A).…”

Synthetic glass and jute fabric reinforced soy-based biocomposites: Development and characterization

“…Elongation at break values of GS3 and JS were found to be 13.1% and 7.3%, respectively indicating more ductile nature of GS3 composite. 13 The observed tensile and flexural values of glass fabric-soy composites are, however, lower than those reported for glass fiber-soy oil-based epoxy composites 8 presumably due to poor fiber-to-fiber interaction, poor interatomic forces between soy resin to glass fabric, and low tensile yield of soy matrix. As GS3 showed highest tensile properties among other samples in the series, the composition used for development of the composite was considered as the optimum.…”