Studies on nanoclay reinforced blended polymer matrix composites

Abstract

Polymer nano composites are the suitable alternative material for newlinemost of the applications because of their tailorability and high strength to newlineweight ratio to suit different applications.Polymer blending is an established newlinemethod to obtain new types of materials with a wide diversity of properties newlineintermediate between those of pure components while concurrently reducing newlinetheir poor characteristics. Hence it is an extremely attractive and inexpensive newlineway of obtaining new structural materials. This strategy is usually cheaper newlineand less time to consume than the development of new monomers for polymer newlinesynthesis. These polymer blends are also called Interpenetrating polymer newlinenetworks and are combinations of two or more polymers in network form. At newlineleast one of the polymers is synthesized or cross linked in the presence of newlineothers. Polyurethane polymers are formed by chemical reaction between an newlineisocyanate and a polyol. Both the isocyanates and polyol used to make newlinepolyurethanes contain on average two or more functional groups per newlinemolecule.The load bearing capability of polyurethane elastomer is found to be newlinegreater than that of other elastomers. The rigid polyurethane foams find newlineapplications inside the metal and plastic walls of most refrigerators and newlinefreezers, print rollers, foot wear or behind paper, metals and other surface newlinematerials in the case of thermal insulation panels in the construction sector. newlineBut generally, polyurethane is poor in mechanical properties. This problem newlinecan be approached by blending Epoxy with polyurethane to get improved newlinemechanical properties. But these blends in pure form have poor mechanical newlineproperties. So it is proposed to reinforce nano-clay as it has been identified newlinefrom the literature that the nano-clay brought an improvement in mechanical newlineproperties. Nano clay fillers are added to significantly increase the modulus newline newline