Effects of Structural Parameters on Mechanical Properties Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanocomposite materials have recently attracted increasing interests in the field of modelling. Finite element modelling can be used for computation of bulk properties of polymer/clay nanocomposites. In this study, by considering the structure of a nano-composite material, a quasi real model is proposed. The model has been used to predict the elastic constants by selection of suitable elements and boundary conditions. The effects of nano-structural parameters on the mechanical properties of a polymer/clay nano-composite are studied. The geometrical overlap of particles, horizontal distance between particles, length of particles and nano-clay volume fraction are defined as functions of the nano-structural parameters and their effects on mechanical properties of nano-composites are studied by a finite element modelling technique.

Keywords

• nanocomposit
• nanoclay
• polymer
• finit elements modeling
• mechanical properties