SURFACE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYPROPYLENE/CLAY NANOCOMPOSITE

Huge consumption of polypropylene in the industries like automotive motivates academic and industrial R&Ds to find new and excellent approaches to improve the mechanical properties of this polymer, which has no degradation effect on other required performance properties like impact resistance, controlled crystallinity, toughness and shrinkage. Nowadays, nanoparticles play a key role in improving the mechanical and surface properties of polypropylene. In this study, three compositions of polypropylene/nanoclay, containing 0, 2 and 5% of nanoclay were prepared in an internal mixer. For characterizing the nanoclay dispersion in polymer bulk, TEM and XRD tests were used. For scratch resistance testing, scratch lines were created on the load of 900 grain on sheets and SEM images were taken and compared with neat PP scratch image. Crystallinity and mechanical behavior were studied. The results showed that mechanical properties and scratch resistance of the composites were improved.