Network dynamics in nanofilled polymers

Guilhem P. Baeza (), Claudia Dessi, Salvatore Costanzo, Dan Zhao, Shushan Gong, Angel Alegria, Ralph H. Colby, Michael Rubinstein, Dimitris Vlassopoulos and Sanat K. Kumar
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Guilhem P. Baeza: Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser
Claudia Dessi: Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser
Salvatore Costanzo: Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser
Dan Zhao: Columbia University
Shushan Gong: Pennsylvania State University
Angel Alegria: Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU
Ralph H. Colby: Pennsylvania State University
Michael Rubinstein: University of North Carolina
Dimitris Vlassopoulos: Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser
Sanat K. Kumar: Columbia University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract It is well accepted that adding nanoparticles (NPs) to polymer melts can result in significant property improvements. Here we focus on the causes of mechanical reinforcement and present rheological measurements on favourably interacting mixtures of spherical silica NPs and poly(2-vinylpyridine), complemented by several dynamic and structural probes. While the system dynamics are polymer-like with increased friction for low silica loadings, they turn network-like when the mean face-to-face separation between NPs becomes smaller than the entanglement tube diameter. Gel-like dynamics with a Williams–Landel–Ferry temperature dependence then result. This dependence turns particle dominated, that is, Arrhenius-like, when the silica loading increases to ∼31 vol%, namely, when the average nearest distance between NP faces becomes comparable to the polymer’s Kuhn length. Our results demonstrate that the flow properties of nanocomposites are complex and can be tuned via changes in filler loading, that is, the character of polymer bridges which ‘tie’ NPs together into a network.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11368

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