Assessment of Jet Milling as an Alternative Processing Technique for Preparing Polysulfone Hard Nanocomposites | Chapter 6 | Recent Developments in Engineering Research Vol. 10

This work explains how polysulfone (PSU)/c-alumina nanocomposites can be successfully prepared using a solid-state blending technique such as jet milling. Conventional melt extrusion was used for comparative purposes as well. Morphological analysis showed how jet mill blending makes it possible to obtain well-dispersed c-alumina nanoparticles without any surface treatment within a polysulfone matrix, with a substantial decrease in particle size caused by the break-up of agglomerates and aggregates due to the particle-particle impacts not observed in extruded nanocomposites during processing. DSC research showed that Tg enhancements with alumina addition were promoted by jet-milling processing, while TGA tests reported the increase in thermal stability of the nanocomposites prepared by jet milling compared to the composites prepared by extrusion. For milled nanocomposites, which agreed with the fracture surface images showing broad plastic deformation as a function of the alumina material, the tensile tests showed that ductility stays at a high value. This comparative study shows that the dispersion of nanoparticles in PSU was more homogeneous, with smaller nanoparticles showing a good association with the enhanced final properties of the nanocomposites while preparing nanocomposites using jet milling. These findings strongly indicate that jet milling can be seen as a more effective and industrially flexible way of preparing polymer nanocomposites when compared to techniques that take into account costly and time-consuming nanofiller functionalization.

Author (s) Details

Amaia Llorente
Department of Materials Science and Engineering & Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School (IAAB), Carlos III University of Madrid, Avda Universidad 30, 28911 Leganes, Madrid, Spain.

Berna Serrano
Department of Materials Science and Engineering & Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School (IAAB), Carlos III University of Madrid, Avda Universidad 30, 28911 Leganes, Madrid, Spain.

Juan Baselga
Department of Materials Science and Engineering & Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School (IAAB), Carlos III University of Madrid, Avda Universidad 30, 28911 Leganes, Madrid, Spain.

Gabriel Gedler
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA.

Rahmi Ozisik
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA.

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