Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of PVA/SA/HNTs Blends and Its Composites1

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, July 2017 – ISSN 2412-5954

Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of PVA/SA/HNTs Blends and Its Composites1 N. Thayumanavan1 1 – Jawaharlal College of Engineering and Technology, Palakkad, Kerala, India DOI 10.2412/mmse.13.26.681 provided by Seo4U.link

Keywords: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium alginate (SA), halloysite nanotube (HNTs).

ABSTRACT. Halloysite nanotube (HNTs) filled polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/sodium alginate (SA) blend and its composites films were prepared by solution casting. It was found out, that SA a biopolymer act as a modifier that improves the dispersion of HNTs in composites by establishing the interaction between the HNTs and SA established through FTIR and solution experiments. Morphological observation indicates the improved dispersion of HNTs in presence of SA for PVA/SA/HNTs composite film as compared with PVA/HNTs composite film, which results in a remarkable improvement in mechanical properties.

Introduction. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) filled polymer blends and its composites are under intense investigations for various applications [1], [2]. The incorporation of small concentration of HNTs in polymer blend matric result in an enhancement in mechanical and thermal properties [1], [2]. HNTs as a reinforcing material is more attractive as compared to carbon nanotubes due to its lower cost [3], [4]. In this work, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a matrix material is used and HNTs as a filler material. PVA is a biodegradable polymer used in biomedical, coatings and fuel cells applications [5], [6]. Filler material is added to improve mechanical and thermal properties of PVA composites. The properties of PVA composites depends on the dispersion of filler in PVA matrix. Sodium alginate (SA) has been utilized which will intercalate into interlayer space of HNTs to overcome the aggregation of HNTs in polymer matrix. The aim of this paper is to develop PVA/HSA/NTs blends and its composites by solution processing route with an aim to achieve improved mechanical properties which can be exploited for several potential applications. Materials and Experimental procedure. Halloysite nanotube (HNTs) were received from Imerys Tableware and PVA (99% hydrolyzed, Mw ~ 89,000~98,000) purchased from Aldrich. The procedure for preparing PVA/SA/HNTs nanocomposite films are as follows. HNTs was dissolved in 10 mL of water and treated with ultrasound for 45 min to make a homogeneous dispersion (1 mg/mL). PVA powder was dissolved in distilled water at 90oC and the solution was subsequently cooled to room temperature. The HNTs aqueous dispersion was gradually added to the PVA solution, sonicated at room temperature for 15 min, and stirred to obtain homogeneous PVA/HNTs solutions. Finally, the above solutions were cast into polystyrene petri dishes at room temperature for film formation until its weight equilibrated. The weight contents of HNTs in the nanocomposite films described above were controlled to be 0.5, 2.5, 5 and 10 wt%. In addition SA powder was dissolved in distilled water at room temperature and subsequently added to PVA solution and aqueous dispersion of HNTs for the preparation of PVA/SA blend film and PVA/SA/HNTs nanocomposite blend film. Characterization. Mechanical properties of films were tested using Tensiometer (Kudale Instrument, India) at 10 mm/min having sample size of 60x10x1 mm for at least 10 samples. The data reported here are average of 5 tests for each composition; the standard deviation is less than 5%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis (FTIR) was performed on the samples with Mettler 1

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Magnolithe GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

MMSE Journal. Open Access www.mmse.xyz


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