Nanoparticles

Thermochimica Acta 523 (2011) 1–24

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Thermochimica Acta
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tca

Review

Can nanoparticles really enhance thermal stability of polymers? Part I: An overview on thermal decomposition of addition polymers
K. Chrissafis a , D. Bikiaris b,∗
a b

Solid State Physics Section, Physics Department, AristotleUniversity of Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Polymer nanocomposites are an important class of polymers that have wide application in a number of different industrial sectors andthus organic/inorganic nanocomposite materials have been extensively studied in the last few decades. Inorganic nanoscale fillers, which are considered to be very important, include layered silicates (such as montmorillonite), nanotubes (mainly carbon nanotubes, CNTs), fullerenes, SiO2 , metal oxides (e.g., TiO2 , Fe2 O3 , Al2 O3 ), nanoparticles of metals (e.g., Au, Ag), polyhedral oligomericsilsesquioxane (POSS), semiconductors (e.g., PbS, CdS), carbon black, nanodiamonds, etc. Among the effects of different nanoparticles on polymer properties, many research works evaluate the effect of nanoparticles on polymer thermal stability and fewer papers are dealing with the decomposition mechanism. Thermal stability is mainly studied using TGA, TGA-MS, TGA-FTIR and other techniques. Thisreview highlights the major findings of the effect of different nanoparticles in polymer thermal stability. The whole range of addition polymer matrices is covered, i.e., thermoplastics, thermosets and elastomers. Thermal decomposition kinetics is also a part of this review. The thermal degradation mechanism of these nanocomposites is generally considered to be related to the kind of used nanoparticlesand its amount, the structure of the char formed during polymer degradation, the gas impermeability of inorganic nanoparticles, which inhibit the formation and escape of volatile byproducts during degradation and the interactions between inorganic nanoparticles and polymer reactive groups. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 20 April 2011 Received in revisedform 13 June 2011 Accepted 17 June 2011 Available online 24 June 2011 Keywords: Polymer nanocomposites Carbon nanotubes Montmorillonite Fumed silica Thermal stability Thermal degradation mechanism

Contents 1. 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Structure and properties of nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1. Clays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2. Silica nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3. Carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4. Polyhedral oligomeric...