Aggregation and Interfacial Adhesion of Nano-Sb2O3 Particles in Poly(Butylene Terephthalate) Composites: Effect of Surface Structure of the Nanoparticles.

To study the effect of different surface structures on the aggregation level and interfacial adhesion, nano-Sb₂O₃ particles were treated with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), silane coupling agent KH550 and their compounds (CTAB + KH550). The surface properties and morphologies of the nano-Sb₂O₃ particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The aggregation level and interfacial adhesion of nano-Sb₂O₃ particles within PBT matrix were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and quantitatively evaluated by some semi-empirical parameters including aggregates size (D_agg), real filling degree (V_re), interfacial adhesion ( B ) and aggregated interfacial adhesion (B_agg) from the tensile strength and the Young's modulus measurements. The results showed that the highest interfacial adhesion and lowest aggregation level were obtained for the CTAB + KH550 modified nano-Sb₂O₃/PBT composites followed by the KH550 modified, CTAB modified and bare nano-Sb₂O₃/PBT composites, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]