Fracture behaviour of PP based composites reinforced with micro and nano sized fillers

E.M.PEREZ; C. J. PÉREZ; V.A. ALVAREZ; L. FAMA; C. BERNAL

Conferencia; 14th European Conference on Composite Materials; 2010

A widely used practice in industry to obtain new materials with improved properties at relatively low cost is the incorporation of both micro- and nano-sized fillers into polymers. In the present work, polypropylene (PP) and 5 wt% of different nano and micro-sized fillers (organo-modified clay, SiO2 nanoparticles, Al2O3 nanoparticles or CaCO3 particles) were mixed in an intensive mixer. Composites with different CaCO3 content were also prepared and the effect of the incorporation of MAPP in the composites formulation was also analysed. Fracture tests on double-edge notched tensile specimens (DENT) were carried out for the PP matriz, the blend of PP and MAPP and the different composites with and without MAPP. All materials exhibited non-linear fracture behaviour until maximun load and unstable crack growth at a certain point in the load-displacement curve.