Influence of surface-modified TiO nanoparticles on fracture behavior of injection molded polypropylene

Abstract

We prepared surface-modified TiO₂ nanoparticle (21 nm)/polypropylene nanocomposites using a twin-screw extruder and an injection molding machine. The TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) images showed homogeneous dispersion of nano-TiO₂ at 1 vol.% filler content and weak nanoparticle matrix interfacial adhesion. It was found that the essential work of fracture (EWF) approach, usually characterizing fracture toughness of ductile materials, was no longer applicable to the nanocomposite samples because of the extreme crack blunting and tearing processes observed in the EWF tests. As an alternative approach, the specific essential work-related yield was used for assessment of the plane-strain toughness, as suggested in the literature. The results indicated that the addition of 1 vol.% nano-TiO₂ did not toughen the polypropylene (PP) matrix at all. On the other hand, it was observed from the EWF tensile curves that the nanoparticles enhanced the ductility of the PP matrix greatly, the reason of which was probably ascribed to the high level of molecular orientation of the injection molded samples, as revealed by the polarized optical microscopy (POM). Because of the highly ductile behavior induced by the nanoparticles, the fracture energy achieved two- to three-fold increase, depending on the ligament lengths of the samples. The difference between the toughness and ductility of nanocomposites was discussed.

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