Influence of TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Mechanical Properties of Polycarbonate to Use in Military Equipment

In the past decade, polycarbonate has attracted great interest due to their excellent properties such as, physical, chemical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties and possibility for various applications in modern technology. In this work, polycarbonate-TiO2 nanocamposite films were prepared with different percentages. The structure of samples was studied by X-ray diffractometer. Thermal stability of the nanocomposites was studied by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The polycarbonate and polycarbonate-TiO2 nanocomposite films have been studied by different characterization techniques, viz. scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR spectroscopy, UV-Vis. The mechanical properties were studied by Vickers microhardness and standard tensile testing techniques. The optical band gap values were found to reduce from 4.3 eV to 3.5 eV with increase in TiO2 content of nanocomposites. TGA curves showed that nanocomposite films have higher resistance to thermal degradation compared to polycarbonate. The microhardness value increases with increasing TiO2 nanoparticles in composite. The Vikers hardness test showed that hardness of samples increased from 11.7 for poly carbonate to 13.6 for nanocomposite film with 5%wt. titanuim oxide. The strain test showed 18% improvement in stability by increasing nano titanium oxide particle to polycarbonate.