Highly Transparent, Tough and Dimensionally Stable Polymer Nanocomposite
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Highly Transparent, Tough and Dimensionally Stable Polymer Nanocomposite Yasuaki KAI1), Katsumi MOROHOSHI1), Hironobu MURAMATSU1), Haruo UNNO1), Takashi ODA1), Tomohiro ITOU1), Naoko FUJITA2), Manabu KAWA2) 1) Nissan Research Center, NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD, Yokosuka, Japan 2)
MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL GROUP, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
CENTER, INC., Yokohama, Japan Abstract Transparent polymer nanocomposite is attractive alternative of glass, its tough and lightweight property can contribute to weight reduction of automobiles [1]. However, fabrication process of such composites is not so easy, because dispersion of added particles into polymer is generally poor. The authors have ascertained that aspect ratio of dispersant and chemical modification of its surface are significant factor to improve optical and mechanical properties simultaneously, and successfully developed composites of good transmittance and of excellent mechanical properties, employing needle-like boehmite nano-particles and surface modification with dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid. Introduction All car manufacturers in the world are now engaged in developing more environment- friendly vehicles for future sustainable mobility, and minimizing fuel consumption or weight reduction of vehicles is an essential factor. However, area of sunroof is growing larger for promoting passengers feeling of openness and its weight is rapidly increasing, and new functional materials which are tougher, lighter and transparent have been eagerly anticipated. The focus of this research is to develop a new type of transparent nanocomposite composed of a polycarbonate matrix and boehmite nano-fillers. The target is to significantly improve mechanical properties of the composite while reducing the weight particularly for glazing parts application. To achieve these objectives, nanocomposites with various concentrations of nano-particles and surface modifiers were fabricated to study their morphology and physical properties. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS Boehmite nano-fillers preparation The particles used for this research, called boehmite, is the common name for one of the mineral forms of hydroxyoxide of aluminum described with the molecular formula AlO(OH) and having a refractive index of around 1.590 (cf. 1.585 for polycarbonate) as shown in figure 1 [2].
Boehmite particles was synthesized via Al(OH)3 from bauxite by hydrothermal crystallization method [3] as shown in figure 3 (scheme(1)). Boehmite nano-particles with high length/diameter (L/d) were obtained by controlling the hydrothermal crystallization process, and they were well dispersed in water as monodisperse particle owing to hydroxyl groups on the surface of particles [4]. The L/d value of boehmite nano-particles were finally determined as 30 considering the results of the haze simulation as shown in figure 2, which lead that haze value of less than 1% at a filler content of 12 vol% (20 mass%) in polycarbonate requires average aspect ratio of fillers less than 30 in the case of diameter of 5 nm.
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