I am involved in the research of polymer nanocomposites. For conducting test peoples are choosing the following SET of combinations of sample size.
SET - 1
1. Polymer + 1 wt% nanoparticle
2. Polymer + 2 wt% nanoparticle
3. Polymer + 5 wt% nanoparticle
SET - 2
1. Polymer + 0.5 wt% nanoparticle
2. Polymer + 1 wt% nanoparticle
3. Polymer + 2 wt% nanoparticle
Shall I use SET - 1 or SET -2 ?
Dear Samy,
In the proportions you mentioned as
SET - 1
1. Polymer + 1 wt% nanoparticle
2. Polymer + 2 wt% nanoparticle
3. Polymer + 5 wt% nanoparticle
and SET - 2
1. Polymer + 0.5 wt% nanoparticle
2. Polymer + 1 wt% nanoparticle
3. Polymer + 2 wt% nanoparticle
There is no rule about following any of these two or any new one. The important things you have to consider are
1. Type of nano-material you are using
2. Properties you are looking
3. Commercial viability i. e. high loading Vs price Vs reinforcement in properties
4. Availability of nano-material in lab
5. Compatibility of nano-materials with polymer
6. Agglomeration tendency of nano-material
etc.
Totally Agree with Mr. Omkar. another thing is very often a particular property increases (or decreases) with fiber phase addition to a certain peak (or valley) and then the trend goes to the opposite. Just like a /\ . you can investigate by yourself or from previous literature the optimum range. and select the set likewise.
Hope it helps.
Dear followers,
I agree as well and would like to stress points 3. and 6. in Mr. Omkar's list and recommend the following:
1. Start with the neat polymer as reference, test the samples
2. Add a relatively small amount of nanoparticles (Depending on the density of your nanoparticles 0.5 wt.% can be quite a lot if you think what volume fraction of e.g. a thermoplastic polymer will interact somehow with your particle, or how you may influence polymerization in a thermoset), prepare and test the samples (take note where you find any changes during handling and of course testing from the neat samples)
3. Add a relatively large amount of nanoparticles (e.g. enough for theory to predict easily identifiable property changes, but ideally not so much that your sample preparation is significantly altered through increased viscosity, porosity issues, etc.), prepare and test your samples as before.
4. Finish the first round with another set of neat polymer samples. These should of course look like your first set in theory. In practice they often don't. This can help you with identifying various issues (change in machine temperature, operators getting more practiced, quality constancy of polymer or particles, etc.)
If things look consistent I would focus my second iteration of a similar testing round closer around a potential region of interest - be careful though because like Mr. Qadir correctly points out some properties can seem a little erratic over a concentration continuum of 1% or even less.
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