IJET 2024 Vol.16(3): 169-173
DOI: 10.7763/IJET.2024.V16.1276
The Experimental Investigation of the Effect of TiC Nanoparticles on the Thermal Behavior and Specific Strength of LDPE and HDPE
Ronny T. Tebeta 1,
Daniel M. Madyira 1,
and
Harry M. Ngwangwa 2
1.
Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
2.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa
Email: ronnyt@uj.ac.za (R.T.T.); dmadyira@uj.ac.za (D.M.M.); Ngwanhm@unisa.ac.za (H.M.N.)
*Corresponding author
Manuscript received February 13, 2024; revised March 5, 2024; accepted April 7, 2024; published September 30, 2024.
Abstract—To assess the influence of Titanium Carbide (TiC) nanoparticles on the thermal stability and the specific strength of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), the 2% weight fraction of TiC was added into LDPE and HDPE matrices. The thermal stability, rheological behavior, and specific strength of the pure LDPE, pure HDPE, LDPE/2wt% TiC, and HDPE/2wt% TiC samples were studied through Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), rheology, and tensile testing. The results obtained show that the 2 wt% of TiC nanoparticles are not good reinforcing agents in terms of improving the thermal stability of pure LDPE and pure HDPE. The rheology results demonstrated an improvement in the storage modulus and the complex viscosity of LDPE compared to HDPE reinforced with TiC. However, TiC nanofiller proved to influence the mechanical properties of LDPE and HDPE. The 2% weight fraction of TiC increased the specific strength of pure LDPE by 4% and pure HDPE by 11%. The tensile strength of the pure LDPE and pure HDPE improved by 9% and 15% with the addition of 2 wt% of TiC. The obtained results showed that TiC can enhance the mechanical properties of LDPE and HDPE.
Keywords—polymer-based nanocomposites, polyethylene, specific strength, thermal stability, titanium carbide
Cite: Ronny T. Tebeta, Daniel M. Madyira, and Harry M. Ngwangwa, "The Experimental Investigation of the Effect of TiC Nanoparticles on the Thermal Behavior and Specific Strength of LDPE and HDPE,"
International Journal of Engineering and Technology, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 169-173, 2024.
Copyright © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
