Title:
Development of polymer nanocomposites for automotive applications

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dc.contributor.advisor Kalaitzidou, Kyriaki
dc.contributor.author Chu, Chun en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMember Colton, Jonathan
dc.contributor.committeeMember Das, Suman
dc.contributor.department Mechanical Engineering en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2011-03-04T20:15:09Z
dc.date.available 2011-03-04T20:15:09Z
dc.date.issued 2010-11-03 en_US
dc.description.abstract Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) have gained significant interest because they have outstanding performance that allows cost reduction, weight reduction, and product improvement. This research study focuses on the manufacture and characterization of PNCs in order to explore their potential in automotive applications. More specifically, polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites reinforced with xGnP and nanokaolin were fabricated by manufacturing methods that optimize their performances. Exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP) are promising nanofillers that are cost effective and multifunctional with superior mechanical, thermo-mechanical and electrical properties. Nanokaolin is a newly introduced natural mineral mind in Georgia that has not been studied as of now. PNCs reinforced with these two nanofillers were characterized in terms of mechanical, thermo-mechanical, and various other properties, and then compared to talc- reinforced PP composites, which are the current state of the art for rear bumpers used by Honda Motor. Characterization results indicated that xGnP had better performance than talc and nanokaolin. Furthermore, the addition of xGnP introduces electrical conductivity in the PNCs, leading to more potential uses for PNCs in automotive applications such as the ability to be electrostatic painted. In order to fabricate PNCs with a desired conductivity value, there is need for a design tool that can predict electrical conductivity. Existing electrical conductivity models were examined in terms of model characteristics and parameters, and model predictions were compared to the experimental data. The percolation threshold is the most important parameter in these models, but it is difficult to determine experimentally, that is why a correlation between thermo-mechanical properties and electrical conductivity is also investigated in this study. en_US
dc.description.degree M.S. en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/37128
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology en_US
dc.subject XGnP en_US
dc.subject Automotive en_US
dc.subject Nanocomposites en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Nanocomposites (Materials) Thermomechanical properties
dc.subject.lcsh Polypropylene
dc.subject.lcsh Percolation
dc.subject.lcsh Electric conductivity
dc.title Development of polymer nanocomposites for automotive applications en_US
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Kalaitzidou, Kyriaki
local.contributor.corporatename George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication aa529a1c-571b-4676-a5b8-02f29f4f287c
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
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