Development and Characterization of Halloysite Nanotubes HNTs based Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

newline A prime concern for the material scientist or researchers is to replace metals newlinewith nanocomposites materials which contain similar properties. Exploitation of the newlinenatural resources and increased fuel prices causes industrial demands such as newlineautomobile and aerospace industry, to make lightweight polymer nanocomposites which newlinecould be an excellent replacement for metal structures. Thermoplastics (PEEK, PEI) newlineand elastomer (SBR) have a higher impact resistance therefore these materials were newlineused for the fabrication of nanocomposites based on these materials. The present newlineresearch work focuses on the development of high-performance thermoplastic polymer newlinenanocomposites reinforced with halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) for engineering newlineapplications. In the development of high-performance thermoplastic polymer newlinenanocomposites reinforced with halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), polyetherimide (PEI), newlinepolyether ether ketone (PEEK), and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) were used as newlinematrix material. Pure HNTs and HNTs modified by sulfuric acid were used as newlinenanofiller. newlineThe main objective of the present research work is to fabricate nanocomposites newlinebased on PEI/HNTs, PEEK/PEI/HNTs, PEEK/PEI/modified HNTs, and SBR/HNTs to newlineenhance the various mechanical, thermal property and morphological properties for newlinevarious applications. The developed polymer nanocomposites were analyzed for their newlinemechanical, thermal, and morphological properties using various advanced analytical newlinetechniques such as, universal testing machine (UTM), thermo gravimetric analyzer newline(TGA), dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), newlineand Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The mechanical properties such newlineas tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus were newlineevaluated by using UTM. The impact strength and hardness were evaluated by the newlineimpact tester, hardness tester machine respectively. The various mechanical and thermal newlineproperties of the developed nanocomposites were improved such as tensile strength, newline