Publication detail

Mechanical Properties of Ultrathin Polymer Nanocomposites

BAY, R. ZÁRYBNICKÁ, K. JANČÁŘ, J. CROSBY, A.

Original Title

Mechanical Properties of Ultrathin Polymer Nanocomposites

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

The mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites have been widely studied; however, very few studies have investigated how these properties change for films with thickness approaching the average size of a polymer molecule. Polymer nanocomposites can provide tunable mechanical properties that are essential for advanced applications that require ultrathin glassy polymer films, including filtration membranes and coatings. Herein, we directly measured the stress-strain response of ultrathin polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/silica nanocomposite films on a water surface as a function of film thickness and nanoparticle loading. We found that the elastic modulus was independent of nanoparticle loading and thickness for films as thin as 19 nm. The maximum stress prior to failure decreased as nanoparticle loading increased, and the rate of decrease with nanoparticle loading was dependent strongly upon film thickness. We hypothesize that as the volume fraction increases, the interparticle distance decreases, leading to chain confinement between the nanoparticles. This chain confinement limits the extent of interchain entanglement, which has deleterious effects on strength for this weakly interacting polymer-nanoparticle system. We relate these dimensionally controlled effects to the measured changes in the mechanical response of neat PMMA films with film thickness near the average configurational size scale. Our findings suggest that free surface-nanoparticle interactions, film thickness, and interparticle distance all can impact the mechanical response of ultrathin nanocomposites.

Keywords

nanocomposites; ultrathin films; glassy polymers; entanglements; mechanical properties

Authors

BAY, R.; ZÁRYBNICKÁ, K.; JANČÁŘ, J.; CROSBY, A.

Released

1. 6. 2020

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Location

WASHINGTON

ISBN

2637-6105

Periodical

ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS

Year of study

2

Number

6

State

United States of America

Pages from

2220

Pages to

2227

Pages count

8

URL

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsapm.0c00201

BibTex

@article{BUT164723,
  author="R. Konane {Bay} and Klára {Zárybnická} and Josef {Jančář} and Alfred J. {Crosby}",
  title="Mechanical Properties of Ultrathin Polymer Nanocomposites",
  journal="ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS",
  year="2020",
  volume="2",
  number="6",
  pages="2220--2227",
  doi="10.1021/acsapm.0c00201",
  issn="2637-6105",
  url="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsapm.0c00201"
}