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Volume 18, Issue 3, 2009
EFFECT OF PARTICLE MORPHOLOGY ON THE PROPERTIES OF
POLYPROPYLENE/NANOMETRIC ZINC OXIDE (PP/NANOZNO)
COMPOSITES
Ong Hui Lin1, Hazizan Md Akil1,* and Shahrom Mahmud2
1 School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University Sains Malaysia,
14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
2 NanoOptoelectronic Research Lab, School of Physics, University Sains Malaysia,
11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia.
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed, e-mail: hazizan@eng.usm.my
Received 16 April 2009; accepted 9 July 2009
ABSTRACT
Polypropylene/nanometric zinc oxide (PP/nanoZnO) composites at 1 wt% nanoZnO content were prepared using melt blending method using a thermo Haake internal mixer. Three different types of zinc oxide (ZnO) with different morphologies were used as fillers. Each composite was subjected to characterization analyses including tensile testing, UV-vis spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation at break of the PP/nanoZnO composites were observed to be greatly enhanced despite the low filler content (1 wt%). All ZnO-reinforced composites exhibited superior UV absorption characteristic especially for composite specimens reinforced with ZnO morphology rich in nanorods.
Keywords: Polymer matrix composites; Nano zinc oxide; Mechanical properties
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