S.S. Bhagawan

Nanoclay effect on transport properties of thermoplastic polyurethane/polypropylene (TPU/PP) blends

In this paper the diffusion of water through the nanoclay filled TPU/PP blends was investigated at various temperatures. The effect of blend ratio, compatibilisation and nanoclay addition on the transport properties was studied in detail. Special attention has been given to study the mechanism of diffusion. Thermodynamics and Arrhenius parameters were evaluated from the diffusion data. The various parameters such as diffusion coefficient (D), permeation coefficient (P), sorption coefficients (S) were evaluated at different diffusion conditions. Attempts were made to correlate the observed morphology of the blends with transport properties. Addition of PP into TPU decreases water sorption of the system due to the decrease in overall polarity of the system and further reduced by addition of compatibiliser and nanoclay into the system. Compared to the ether-TPU based blend nanocomposites, the ester-TPU blends show better compatibility as confirmed by analysis.

Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Nanoclay-Filled Different TPU/PP Blends

Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) (based on ether and ester polyols) were blended with nonpolar material of PP. Nanoclay was used to reduce the surface energy of the TPU hard segments and makes them more compatible with the non-polar PP. More compatible blends have been obtained by using MA-g-PP as the compatibiliser. Blends were produced by melt mixing using a twin crew extruder. Compared to the ether-TPU based blend nanocomposites, the ester–TPU blends show better compatibility as confirmed by DMA, Tensile strength, XRD, SEM, and AFM analysis.

MODELING AND OPTIMIZING PROPERTIES OF NANOCLAY-NITRILE RUBBER COMPOSITES USING BOX-BEHNKEN DESIGN

Abstract The mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer (NBR)–organomodified layered silicate (nanoclay) was modeled using design of experiments approach. A Box–Behnken design with three factors and three levels was used to model the relationship between properties of NBR nanocomposites and the ingredients. The factors considered in the design were silica content, nanoclay loading, and dicumyl peroxide content. The nanocomposites were evaluated for tensile strength, modulus, elongation at break, oxygen permeation rate, and effect of oil and heat aging on mechanical properties. Regression equations were generated to model the properties of interest and generate response surfaces and contour plots. The predicted properties of the nanocomposites were in good agreement with the experimental results. The contour plots were overlaid within the applied constraints to identify the combination of factor ranges that gives the optimal performance of the nanocomposites for application as control system ...

Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Nanoclay Filled Different TPU/PP Blend Nanocomposites: Structure - Property Relations

Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) (based on ether and ester polyols) were blended with nonpolar polypropylene (PP). Nanoclay was used to reduce the surface energy of the TPU hard segments and make them more compatible with the nonpolar PP. More compatible blends were obtained by using MA-g-PP as the compatibilizer. Blends were produced by melt mixing using a twin screw extruder. Compared to the ether-TPU-based blend nanocomposites, the ester-TPU blends show better compatibility as confirmed by DMA, Tensile strength, XRD, SEM, and AFM analysis.