Chemical Engineering Department

Presents

Professor Linda Schadler

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Towards Design of Polymer Nanocomposites: Using the Interface to Control Polymer Nanocomposite Properties

The focus of our research is to improve the ability to tailor and control the bulk properties of polymer nanocomposites.  Using carefully tailored nanofiller surfaces to vary the entropic interactions between metal oxide nanofillers and polymer matrices, we have developed maps of both thermomechanical properties and morphology as a function of that interaction.  In addition, we have begun to isolate the effects of load transfer versus interfacial polymer properties on the rheological behavior of multi-walled nanotube / polymer composites. This talk will highlight our latest results and provide motivation for the work by showing select examples of the impact of the interface on dielectric and tribological properties of polymer nanocomposites.