Thermal And Mechanical Properties Of Wood/Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites

Submitted By sinazz
Words: 457
Pages: 2

ABSTRACT :

In this study Thermal and Mechanical properties of Wood/Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites (WPCNs) based on Data Palm Fiber (DPF)/Poly ethylene/Nanoclay (Closite® 15A)polyethylene . Nanocomposites were prepared using 2 method which are direct blending and melt blending .In the first method Nanocomposites were prepared using Counter-rotating twin screw extruder via direct blending method. In the second method The first step was preparing Polyethylene nanocomposite using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder followed by adding Data palm fiber (DPF) to polyethylene nanocomposite in a counter-rotating twin-screw extruder as the second step and that is called melt blending . In all steps maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene –MAPE was used to make both nano-clay and fiber compatible with matrix. In this study we are also trying to achieve optimum operating condition in producing Wood/Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites. To achieve our goal we separated two steps from the very first. In Preparing Nanocomposites (first step) we considered two screw speed entirely different based on determining factors in increasing gallery space as a desirable result. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Mechanical properties was used to determine the optimum screw speed. Lower screw speed resulted in nearly exfoliated and better mechanical properties which shows residence time may play more important role than any determining factor such as shear in increasing gallery space. Second step was optimized using 3 screw speed and two temperature profile to reach the best possible mechanical properties .the best mechanical properties obtained through lower temperature profile and slowest screw speed which suggest that Degradation might play a crucial role in mechanical properties. Thermal properties of have been measured applying Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermo gravimetric Analysis (TGA). Mechanical properties was evaluated using Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA)and other mechanical testing machines such as tensile. In addition SEM