Researchers reveal the multifunctionality of polyurea nanocomposites

A recent study published in the journal Smart Materials in Manufacturing focuses on the production of smart, versatile and structurally robust nanocomposites by combining functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (F-GNP) with polyurea.

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Study: multifunctional intelligent elastomeric nanocomposite materials containing graphene nanoplatelets. Image credit: Saachka Pro / Shutterstock.com

Polyurea is an elastomeric material with remarkable mechanical properties. However, pure polyurea elastomers are often hampered by lack of hardness and performance.

What are polyurea materials?

Polyurea is one of the most important materials for absorbing structural impact. Its soft sections are mainly composed of long carbon sequences, oligomeric polyols and other elastic sections with a wide range of conformations. Isocyanates and chain extenders are used as mechanical bonds and reinforcement phases in hard sections.

Polyurea has different viscoelastic characteristics that are substantially affected by pressure, heat and stress velocities. Robust hydrogen bonds and complex internal structures contribute to its remarkable defensive features.

Polyurea polymers are restricted in certain situations due to lack of practicality or poor protective efficacy. The nanocomposite technique could help solve these problems.

Functional conductive additives: the future of polymers

Substances based on functionalized polymers often integrate polymers with particular functional additives to generate new or significantly improved capabilities, such as conductance, heat dissipation, barrier properties, and detection, especially self-detection, that is required for materials. advanced information-based.

Fiber optics are often used to provide detection capabilities to polymeric materials or concrete compounds. This, in turn, causes compound errors and requires the use of large-scale test equipment. Self-detection nanomaterials, which have emerged in recent years, are expected to overcome this limitation.

Under external stress, the matrix of conductive particles is distorted and broken, which allows the network to be altered and the electrical resistance of the compounds (piezoresistive capacity) to change.

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) as functional additives

Metals (e.g., flakes), conductive foams, MXens, and activated carbon fillers such as carbon black, nanotubes, and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) are good considerations for conductive additives.

Metal-based compounds have the disadvantage of being heavier due to their high loads. Higher loads can lead to a decrease in mechanization and an increase in costs.

GNP has gained popularity due to its superior electromechanical qualities. Efficient conductive networks can be built with low electrical percolation criteria due to their large aspect ratios. However, the homogeneous distribution of GNP in polymeric materials remains a major challenge.

Schemes for (a) the preparation of a polyurea / F-GNP nanocomposite and (b) the multichannel detection system. © Meng, Q. et al. (2022)

Highlights of current research

Although most previous research on polyurea has focused only on mechanical characteristics and capabilities, the present work focuses on the multifunctionality of polyurea nanomaterials.

In this study, functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (F-GNP) were used as fiber reinforcements to create multifaceted, self-detecting polyurea composite materials with improved mechanical performance.

The researchers examined the effect of F-GNPs on the mechanical properties and impact strength of polyurea elastomers to see if nanocomposites could be widely used as protective substances.

Main conclusions of the study

Polyurea nanocomposites, as a new type of multifunctional nanomaterials, not only offer continuous and safe temperature detection and measurement properties, but can also monitor and identify the progression of their degradation, as demonstrated by impact experiments and low speed breakage.

The electrical conduction of all nanocomposites produced increased as the nanoparticle concentration increased and the electrical percolation limit was determined to be 1.05 percent vol. The nanocomposite showed a remarkable sensitivity in the stump region of 0-5%.

The findings reveal that the standardized resistance of the nanocomposite changes with temperature and its sensitivity varies between the low and high temperature ranges. Nanocomposites showed good reliability and stability during cycle voltage measurements of up to 9100 cycles and showed a constant detection capability between 20 ° C and 80 ° C.

Prospects and future prospects

This study describes a simple and efficient method to produce multifaceted, high-efficiency polyurea nanocomposites. These functionalities are performed by modifying, degrading and restoring the conductive system within nanomaterials.

The self-detection capability of functionalized polyurea compounds to properly detect and identify explosion damage and the development of cracks as a new category of smart materials can open the door to numerous new industrial applications.

Reference

Meng, Q. et al. (2022). Intelligent multifunctional elastomeric nanocomposite materials containing graphene nanoplatelets. Intelligent materials in manufacturing. Available at: Reveal the Multifunctionality of Polyurea Nanocomposites

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