Roles of linear alkyl chain alkylation on reinforcement of graphene based polypropylene nanocomposites

Alkylation becomes one of the alternatives to cope with mixing compatibility issue that arises during melt mixing between graphene oxide (GO) and polypropylene (PP) by grafting linear alkyl chains onto GO surface. Alkylated (AGO-PP) and alkylated reduced (ARGO-PP) nanocomposites showed improvement in tensile strength and Young's modulus values than neat PP as nanofillers loadings increased. However, the elongation at break for both AGO-PP and ARGO-PP nanocomposites displayed lower values than neat PP. This indicates that the interfacial interaction between nanofillers and PP was enhanced. On the contrary, the decrement in elongation at break in both nanocomposites than neat PP was found which caused by the restriction of movement at the interface layer between nanofillers and PP matrix.