Investigating the nanomechanical properties of polymer-graphene-titanium nitride nanocomposites for high strength application.
Uyor, Uwa O. Popoola, Abimbola Patricia I. Popoola, Olawale M.
Uyor, Uwa O.
Popoola, Abimbola Patricia I.
Popoola, Olawale M.
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Abstract
In this work, hybrid graphene nanoplatelets (GN) and titanium nitride (TiN) were used as reinforcements to enhance nanomechanical properties of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (PE). The ternary nanocomposites were prepared by solvent mixing and melt-compounding processes. The nanomechanical properties of the developed nanocomposites was determined using nanoindenter. It was observed that PE-GN binaryn nanocomposites enhanced the nanomechanical properties, however, this was significantly pronounced with PEGN- TiN ternary nanocomposites. For instance, the hardness and elastic modulus increased from 171 MPa and 2.5 GPa for the pure PE to 282 MPa and 3.2 GPa for PE-2 wt %GN nanocomposite, which are about 65% and 28% increments at applied load of 100 mN respectively. While PE-2 wt%GN-20 wt% TiN ternary nanocomposite
revealed hardness and elastic modulus increments of about 196% and 100% compared to the pure PE and 80% and 56% compared to PE-2 wt% GN binary nanocomposite. The enhanced nanomechanical properties is attributed to the uniform distribution and interlocking of the PE molecular chains by the presence of the hybrid GNTiN nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. The enhanced hardness, elastic modulus and other mechanical properties in this study are essential for advanced engineering applications where high mechanical features are required.
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Date
2023-09-01
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Elsevier B.V.
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Keywords
Nanomechanical properties, Titanium nitride and graphene nanosheets, Elastic modulus and hardness