1. Experimental study and micromechanical modeling of MMT platelet-reinforced PP nanocomposites
- Author
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Cauvin, Ludovic, Bhatnagar, Naresh, Brieu, Mathias, and Kondo, Djimédo
- Subjects
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COMPOSITE materials , *ENGINEERING , *ELASTIC analysis (Engineering) , *MONTMORILLONITE , *SMECTITE - Abstract
Abstract: Nanocomposites with platelets reinforcements are emerging materials with strong potential for future engineering applications. The present study is a first step to characterize and predict the elastic behavior of Montmorillonite (MMT) clay reinforced Polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites. The pellets of nanoclay composites were made by first uniformly mixing the MMT platelets in a twin-screw extruder by the melt intercalation route. These pellets were then converted into tensile specimens as per ASTM 638 by injection molding process. From tensile tests it is shown that there is a significant increase of the Young modulus with the mass fraction (2–7%) of clay platelets. A first approach of homogenization allows to conclude that the Ponte Castañeda and Willis (1995) bound predicts the measured moduli provided that a suitable aspect ratio of the reinforcement is considered. To cite this article: L. Cauvin et al., C. R. Mecanique 335 (2007). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2007
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