Effect of Particle Agglomeration on the Elastic Properties of Filled Polymers

Abstract We conducted a numerical finite-element-based study on the reinforcing effect of particle agglomeration on the stiffness of sphere-filled polymers. Two different types of agglomerates were considered. The first type was made up of 10 nonoverlapping identical spheres, whereas the second type were 10 slightly fused spheres. Numerical results reveal that by using agglomerates with fused spheres, one can significantly increase the composite stiffness, whereas the use of nonfused agglomerates does not allow one to achieve any additional stiffness increase compared to a composite with evenly dispersed nonagglomerating spheres. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported by the Swiss TOP NANO 21 program, Algroup Lawson Mardon Packaging Services Ltd., and Nestec Ltd Research Center.