Structure and properties of injection-molded nanocomposites of biobased polyamide 11 and fibrous sepiolite or layer-like montmorillonite nanofillers

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. René Androsch
• Co-Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Walter Wilhelm Focke
• Subject Area: Plastics Engineering ; Polymer Materials
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 260513810

Polyamide 11 (PA 11) is a biobased polymer with a balanced property profile including relatively high thermal stability, excellent chemical resistance, and reasonable mechanical characteristics. Further improvement of properties, to widen the range of applications, is possible by modification/reinforcement with nanofillers. It is the aim of this project to evaluate the effects of variation of the content, chemistry, and geometry/aspect ratio of layer-like montmorillonite and fibrous sepiolite nanofillers on structure formation and selected properties of PA 11 based nanocomposites. A major goal of this project, besides the analysis of the reinforcing effect of nanofillers of largely different aspect ratio, is the evaluation of the nucleation efficiency of nanofillers of different specific surface area and surface chemistry on the crystallization of the polymer matrix at conditions relevant in processing and its influence on the development of skin/core morphologies in injection molding. The research project is expected to contribute to the further establishment/development of new biobased engineering polymeric materials with improved mechanical behavior. The in-depth analysis of the effect of different nanofillers on properties and structure formation of the polymer matrix as a function of the crystallization conditions will allow designing processing routes to obtain specific semicrystalline morphologies and therefore nanocomposite properties.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: South Africa