Preparation and Characterization of Polypropylene Composites Filled with Different Structured Mesoporous Particles

Monodisperse nanosized mesoporous particles were synthesized by sol-gel reaction. This study investigated the effects of different types of nanoparticles and amount of nanoparticles on mechanical performance of polypropylene (PP) composites. Four different types of nanoparticles, namely, mesoporous MCM-41 (without template), mesoporous MCM-41 (with template), SBA-15 (without template), and SBA-15 (with template) were considered. PP composites containing (0.5-5 wt%) mesoporous fillers were prepared by compounding. The mechanical properties of the composites determined as a function of the filler loading and the different types of nanoparticles were found to vary with the different interface between different fillers and the matrix. In addition, mechanical tests suggested that SBA-15 (without template) can be regarded as better fillers for PP because of the larger pore size (5.9 nm) and thick silica walls (3.8 nm) as comparable to MCM-41 (without template) and can simultaneously provide PP with strengthening and toughening effects at a rather low filler content. Because the P 123 (EO20PO70EO20) surfactant of large PO/EO ratio in SBA-15 (with template) possessed relatively higher hydrophobicity than the n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactant in MCM-41 (with template), PP/SBA-15 (with template) composite showed better mechanical properties than PP/MCM-41 (with template) composite.