Abstract
Polyurethane/Halloysite Nantubes nanocomposites containing 1 wt.% nanoparticles were prepared using in situ polymerization method with different mixing sequences. Various experiments have been performed in order to evaluate the effect of nanoparticle dispersion and the different orders of mixing of the samples on the mechanical properties and morphology of nanocomposites. The results obtained from the ATR-FTIR test demonstrated that the presence of nanoparticles led to an increase in phase separation, and the sample with the best nanoparticle dispersion has shown more phase separation than the other samples. Furthermore, the results of the Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) also confirmed more phase separation and the crystallinity of the samples in the presence of nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were utilized in order to investigate the dispersion of nanoparticles in polyurethane matrix and to examine surface fracture of the samples. Moreover, differential mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) revealed that the presence of nanoparticles has altered the glass transition temperature of polymers, and there are physical and chemical interaction and hydrogen bonding between nanoparticles and hard and soft polyurethane segments. In addition, in the presence of nanoparticles the damping of the samples was reduced compared to the neat sample. Change in behavior from liquid like to solid like in the range of low angular frequencies was observed which is in agreement with the formation of a network structure that can be broken even at low shear rates. In the second step, kinetics of the phase separation process of thermoplastic polyurethane and nanocomposites was studied by rheological experiments. The results showed that the kinetics of phase separation process of thermoplastic polyurethane is similar to that of the crystallization process. Phase separation kinetics of neat samples and nanocomposite have been studied. The presence of nanoparticles by nucleation mechanism increased the rate of the phase separation.