Prepation and investigation of boron nitride based polypropylene nanocomposite films

In this study, different types of boron nitride-based nanoparticles were synthesized using different methods, and morphological and structural analysis of the nano particles were performed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). In the first step, micro-sized hexagonal boron nitride was exfoliated into nanosheets (h-BNN) by a solvent-free molten hydroxide exfoliation method. In the second step, boron nitride nanoribbons were prepared by using boric acid and melamine with the two-step "Self-sacrifice template" (Sacrifice Supported Method) (SST) method. In order to compare the properties of hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets and ribbons, carbon nitride nanoparticles and nanotubes, which also exhibit similar structural properties, were synthesized. Masterbatch (MB) method was used to incorporate the synthesized nanoparticles into the polypropylene matrix through melt mixing, and dilution and film production processes were carried out with a twin screw extruder. Thus, nanocomposite films with 1%, 2%, 3% and 5% filling weight ratios were prepared, and Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to investigate thermal stability. In the results, it was observed that the crystallization (Tc) temperatures increased with the increase of the filling ratio and the particles mostly exhibited nucleating agent behavior on PP crystallization. It was found that the filling ratio was effective on the thermo-oxidative stability of the nanocomposites and the thermal stability increased depending on the increasing amount of filler. The optimum particle content providing the best thermal, mechanical and rheological properties was found to be 3% by weight.