Crystalline Orientation in Polymer from Inorganic Nanofillers – COPIN

The present research project will be dedicated to the crystallization phenomena and the orientation of the obtained morphology in semi-crystalline polymer based nanocomposites with nanofillers exhibiting high aspect ratios. The core work will concern the relationships between the different ways of dispersing the nanofiller, the deformation that the melt polymer undergoes during its solidification and the crystallization (kinetics and orientation). The basic aim of this project is to generate a specific crystalline orientation from different and somehow converse ways. It can be a crystalline orientation resulting from the filler orientation due to the strain, the filler acting then as a nucleating agent. On the other hand, it can be due directly to the strain leading to flow induced crystallization. In that second case, the filler will only play a role by locally increase the deformation in the polymer matrix. The resulting orientation can be different from one way to the other. A great effort will be developed to study the effect of original fillers like a new nanotalc, or in-situ created and deformed particles of silica or titanium dioxide. Different topics will be included in the project: - Dispersion and/or creation of the nanofiller with high aspect ratio, - Orientation of the filler in controlled strain conditions - Flow induced crystallization kinetics and resulting crystalline morphology orientation. - Crystallization in an elongational flow. The project duration will be of 3 years. The major partner is the Research Unity of the CNRS (Ingenierie des Matériaux Polymères, IMP, UMR5223). An industrial partner will also participate to this project: Rio Tinto (RTM Group). This partner is a talc producer.