Advanced rheological and mechanical properties of three-phase polymer nanocomposites through strong interfacial interaction of graphene and titania

This study focused on rheological and mechanical properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanocomposites incorporated with functionalized graphene nanoplatelets and hydroxylated titanium dioxide. Mechanical properties of the ternary composites were improved with a slight reduction in damping coefficient compared to the pure polymer and graphene binary composites. The storage modulus of the ternary composites significantly increased from about 67.5 Pa for the pure polymer to 3.24 × 10⁵ Pa and 3.49 × 10⁵ Pa at 0.1 rad/s for 6.67 wt% graphene composites containing 10 wt% and 20 wt% titania respectively. All ternary composites showed higher tensile strength and Young modulus compared to the pure polymer. Strong bonding between the polymer and co-fillers with a reduction in interfacial slipping in the ternary composites resulted in their lower damping factor and higher strength compared to their counterparts. The composite samples were prepared by solution and melt mixing methods. The scanning electron microscope was used to examine the samples’ morphology and dispersion of the co-fillers in the matrix. Such composites can find applications in automobile and aerospace industries where materials with good strength and noise or vibration absorption capability are required.