Thermo-mechanical properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) modified graphite/poly(methyl methacrylate) nano composites

Abstract Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nano composites were synthesized by melt compounding technique. Different graphite loadings were investigated, including some treated with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). A homogeneous dispersion of graphite throughout the PMMA matrix was observed under microscopic analysis. Thermo-gravimetric analysis showed the incorporation of graphite resulted in improvement of thermal stability of neat PMMA. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis also showed a significant improvement in the storage modulus over the temperature range of 25–150 °C. Coating the graphite with a small amount of PVDF was found to further extend the improvement in the modulus of the PMMA nano composite at 1 wt.% graphite loading.