Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites with Various Organic and Inorganic Fibrous Nanofillers : Morphology-Property Correlation

POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE NANOCOMPOSITES WITH VARIOUS ORGANIC AND INORGANIC FIBROUS NANOFILLERS : MORPHOLOGY-PROPERTY CORRELATION

 

NABARUN ROY¹ AND ANIL K. BHOWMICK^{1, 2}

¹RUBBER TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KHARAGPUR-721302, INDIA

²INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PATNA- 800013, INDIA 

Phone: 91-612-2277380, Fax: 91-3222-220312/91-612-2277384

                                                            ABSTRACT

Among various elastomers, polydimethylsiloxane is versatile owing to the exotic combination of properties such as low temperature flexibility, high thermal stability, incredible surface properties and even excellent biocompatibility. However, it finds limited use in some instances where strength is a critical parameter. Hence, this work aims at improving the mechanical, dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of the vulcanizates by integrating various fibrous nanofillers of organic and inorganic origin. In this review work, four different nanofiller systems viz., sepiolite, carbon nanofiber, hydroxyapatite and fibrous nanosilica as the reinforcing agent were compared. We pursued the nanocomposite preparation through in situ polymerization and ex situ solution casting techniques . Dispersion was found to be an important aspect which governed the property enhancement of the nanocomposites. The extent of dispersion of the various nanofillers was inspected through morphology analysis by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) studies. These results were correlated with the improvement of tensile strength , storage modulus and thermal stability  of the nanocomposites and explained  in terms of increased interaction  of the hybrid materials, due to collective non-bonding forces of attraction (such as hydrogen bonding) between the components.