Interphase Percolation Effect

In nanocomposites, an interphase region of altered polymer mobility exists in the vicinity of the nanoscale filler. Due to the vast surface area of the nanofiller, the amount of interphase is enormous and can percolate to dominate the properties of nanocomposite even at very low loadings of nanofiller. A hybrid numerical-analytical method was developed to predict viscoelastic behavior of polymer nanocomposites where complex configurations of nanofillers and interphase can be taken into account. Our simulation results demonstrate that glass transition temperature (T_g) and stiffness of nanocomposite can be significantly changed with the formation of a percolating interphase network inside the composite.

a) This schematic illustration showing interphase regions surrounding nanofillers (white), lead to a percolating interphase polymer network in the nanocomposite. b) Comparison of predicted T_g.