Structure and thermal properties of copper-polypropylene based nanocomposites

Polymer nanocomposites based on PP/Cu were obtained by the combining of ex-situ casting solution and hot pressing methods. The structure of polymer nanocomposites was characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, AFM and FT-IR spectroscopy analysis. The thermal properties were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the addition of copper nanoparticles to the PP polymer matrix increases the thermal stability of the polymer, and this thermal stability reaches its maximum value at 3% content of copper nanoparticles in the polymer. The reason for the increase in the thermal properties of nanocomposites is associated with the formation of a more perfect, dense and ordered structure of PP-based composites and the fact that nanoparticles play the role of a nucleus of crystallization for polymer matrices.