Fabrication and characterization of boron carbide/polymethyl methacrylate composites

Abstract

The composites reported in this work were prepared from poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as polymeric matrix and boron carbide nanoparticles as filler using solution casting method. The synthesized composites were characterized using universal testing machine, thermogravimetry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of filler concentration on the various key properties of the resultant composites was investigated. The results revealed that by increasing the concentration of the filler, the mechanical strength and thermal stability increased. The results indicated that filler when used in 20 wt% concentration caused improvements in the thermal and mechanical properties of the composite including Young’s modulus and tensile strength. The composites prepared using filler in optimum concentration (20 wt%) were further characterized using FTIR, XRD and SEM. The results inferred that the synthesized composites could achieve candidature for use in diverse applications.

Keywords:

• Boron carbide
• MMA
• nanocomposites
• mechanical properties
• thermal properties

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to the Centralized Laboratory, University of Peshawar for providing analytical facilities.

Disclosure statement

We declare no conflict of interest.