Abstract
Bimodal cellular poly(methyl methacrylate) with micro- and nano-sized (300–500 nm) cells with up to 5 wt% of sepiolite nanoparticles and porosity from 50% to 75% are produced by solid-state foaming. Uniaxial compression tests are performed to measure the effect of sepiolite concentration on the elastic modulus and the yield strength of the solid and cellular nanocomposites. Single edge notch bend tests are conducted to relate the fracture toughness of the solid and cellular nanocomposites to sepiolite concentration. The relative modulus is independent of sepiolite content to within material scatter when considering the complete porosity range. In contrast, a mild enhancement of the relative modulus is observed by the addition of sepiolite particles for the foamed nanocomposites with a porosity close to 50%. The relative compressive strength of the cellular nanocomposites mildly decreases as a function of sepiolite concentration. A strong enhancement of the relative fracture toughness by the addition of sepiolites is observed. The enhancement of the relative fracture toughness and the relative modulus (at 50% porosity) can be attributed to an improved dispersion of the particles due to foaming and the migration of micro-sized aggregates from the solid phase to the microcellular pores during foaming.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1900041 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Macromolecular Materials and Engineering |
| Volume | 304 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Financial support from the FPU grant FPU14/02050 (V.B.) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, the Junta of Castile and Leon grant (J.M.-d.L.) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) award 1611305 (F.V.L.) is gratefully acknowledged. Financial assistance from MINECO, FEDER, UE (MAT2015-69234-R), the Junta de Castile and Leon (VA275P18), the ERC MULTILAT grant 669764, and SABIC are gratefully acknowledged too. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Martin van Es from SABIC for the technical assistance and fruitful discussions and Tolsa (Madrid, Spain) for supplying the sepiolites for this study.
Funding
Financial support from the FPU grant FPU14/02050 (V.B.) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, the Junta of Castile and Leon grant (J.M.-d.L.) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) award 1611305 (F.V.L.) is gratefully acknowledged. Financial assistance from MINECO, FEDER, UE (MAT2015-69234-R), the Junta de Castile and Leon (VA275P18), the ERC MULTILAT grant 669764, and SABIC are gratefully acknowledged too. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Martin van Es from SABIC for the technical assistance and fruitful discussions and Tolsa (Madrid, Spain) for supplying the sepiolites for this study.
Keywords
- mechanical properties
- nanocellular foams
- nanocellular polymers
- nanocomposites
- poly(methyl methacrylate)