Page 84 - Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

60 Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

possible clay aggregation at a high clay loading. The thermal properties are also
studied and it is shown that the addition of fibers leads to a decrease in the degradation
temperature of the hybrid composites when clay is thermally stable in the studied
temperature range.
Anbusagar et al. [55] have investigated the effect of nanoclay modified polyester
resin on flexural, impact, hardness, and water absorption properties on the untreated
woven jute and glass fabric hybrid laminates experimentally. The hybrid sandwich
laminates are prepared by hand layup manufacturing technique (HL) for investigation.
The testing results indicated that the flexural properties are greatly increased at 4% of
nanoclay loading, while impact, hardness, and water absorption properties are
increased at 6% of nanoclay loading.
The tensile properties of chemically treated jute fiber-reinforced polyethylene/
clay (TJPCC) nanocomposites are investigated by Hossen et al. [49].
Nanocomposites are prepared using hot-press molding technique by varying jute
fiber loading (5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) for both treated and untreated fibers. Physical
and mechanical properties are subsequently characterized. Tensile test is conducted
for mechanical characterization. FTIR and SEM study showed interfacial interaction
among jute fiber, polyethylene, and nanoclay. The tensile strength (TS) and tensile
modulus (TM) of the different fiber-loaded composites are shown in Fig. 2.29. How-
ever, treated jute fiber-reinforced composites (TJPC) showed better tensile properties
compared with untreated jute fiber polyethylene composite (RJPC) and also
nanoclay-incorporated composites enhance higher tensile properties when compared
with those without nanoclay ones.
Saba et al. [17] have prepared epoxy-based hybrid nanocomposites by dispersing
the different nanofillers—nano-oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) filler, montmo-
rillonite (MMT), and organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) at 3% loading
through high-speed mechanical stirrer followed by hand layup technique. DMA, in
terms of storage modulus (E ), loss modulus (E ) tan delta (δ), and glass transition
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temperature (T g ) as a function of temperature are carried out. Overall results indicated
that E , E , and T g is increased considerably by incorporating nano-OPEFB filler,
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MMT, and OMMT nanoclay into the kenaf/epoxy composites.
2.6 Nanoparticle reinforced thermoplastic composites

Many researchers have used MMT and CNT nanoparticle as filler in thermoplastic
such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) composites. Some of the important research work on nanoparticle-based ther-
moplastic polymer composites is summarized below.
Lee et al. [56] have developed clay particle-reinforced wood fiber/plastic compos-
ites (WPCs) to improve their mechanical and flame retardancy properties. A high
degree of exfoliation for nanoclay in the wood fiber/HDPE composites was success-
fully achieved with the aid of maleated HDPE (PE-g-MAn), through a melt blending
masterbatch process. They used X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron
microscopy to determine the structures and morphologies of the composites,