Citation:
J. Njuguna, K. Pielichowski, S. Desai. Nanofiller Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites. Polymers for Advanced Technologies
Volume 19, Issue 8, pages 947–959, August 2008
Abstract:
In this work, the technology of nano and micro-scale particle reinforcement
concerning various polymeric fibre-reinforced systems including polyamides (PA),
polyesters, polyurethanes, polypropylenes and high performance/temperature
engineering polymers such as polyimide (PI), poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK),
polyarylacetylene (PAA) and poly p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO) is reviewed.
When the diameters of polymer fibre materials are shrunk from micrometers to
submicrons or nanometers, there appear several unique characteristics such as
very large surface area to volume ratio (this ratio for a nanofibre can be as
large as 103 times of that of a microfibre), flexibility in surface
functionalities and superior mechanical performance (such as stiffness and
tensile strength) compared with any other known form of the material. However,
nanoparticle reinforcement of fibre reinforced composites has been shown to be a
possibility, but much work remains to be performed in order to understand how
nanoreinforcement results in dramatic changes in material properties. The
understanding of these phenomena will facilitate their extension to the
reinforcement of more complicated anisotropic structures and advanced polymeric
composite systems.