TY - JOUR A1 - Cano Murillo, Natalia A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Emamverdi, Farnaz A1 - Cacua, K. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Carrier Fibers for the Safe Dosage of Nanoparticles in Nanocomposites: Nanomechanical and Thermomechanical Study on Polycarbonate/Boehmite Electrospun Fibers Embedded in Epoxy Resin JF - Nanomaterials - Special Issue Advanced Materials for Aerospace: Polymer Nanocomposites N2 - The reinforcing effect of boehmite nanoparticles (BNP) in epoxy resins for fiber composite lightweight construction is related to the formation of a soft but bound interphase between filler and polymer. The interphase is able to dissipate crack propagation energy and consequently increases the fracture toughness of the epoxy resin. Usually, the nanoparticles are dispersed in the resin and then mixed with the hardener to form an applicable mixture to impregnate the fibers. If one wishes to locally increase the fracture toughness at particularly stressed positions of the fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC), this could be done by spraying nanoparticles from a suspension. However, this would entail high costs for removing the nanoparticles from the ambient air. We propose that a fiber fleece containing bound nanoparticles be inserted at exposed locations. For the present proof-of-concept study, an electrospun polycarbonate nonwoven and taurine modified BNP are proposed. After fabrication of suitable PC/EP/BNP composites, the thermomechanical properties were tested by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Comparatively, the local nanomechanical properties such as stiffness and elastic modulus were determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). An additional investigation of the distribution of the nanoparticles in the epoxy matrix, which is a prerequisite for an effective nanocomposite, is carried out by scanning electron microscopy in transmission mode (TSEM). From the results it can be concluded that the concept of carrier fibers for nanoparticles is viable. KW - Advanced materials KW - Electrospun nanocomposite fiber KW - Nanomechanical charecteisation KW - Nanosafety KW - Epoxy nanocomposites PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-528265 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11061591 VL - 11 IS - 6 SP - 1591 PB - MDPI CY - CH - 4020 Basel, Switzerland AN - OPUS4-52826 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Cano Murillo, Natalia A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Cover image for the article "Nanomechanical study of polycarbonate/boehmite nanoparticles/epoxy ternary composite and their interphases" T2 - Journal of applied polymer science N2 - The image designed by Natalia Cano Murillo and colleagues shows the cross section of a ternary composite (boehmite/polycarbonate/epoxy, 80μm x 80μm). The surface was measured by AFM kelvin probe microscopy, yielding the surface potential which is shown as 3D‐surface and contour lines. The sample was further subjected to AFM force spectroscopy with a lateral resolution of 1μm², yielding the local Young's modulus, projected in false colors on the 3D surface. The ternary system, containing boehmite nanoparticles, shows a broad distribution of modulus, desirable for optimized macroscopic mechanical properties, such as high stiffness as well as toughness. KW - Boehmite KW - Epoxy KW - Polycarbonate KW - AFM KW - BNP PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/app.50400 SN - 0021-8995 SN - 1097-4628 VL - 138 IS - 12 SP - 1 PB - Wiley CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-51831 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cano Murillo, Natalia A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Nanomechanical study of polycarbonate/boehmite nanoparticles/epoxy ternary composite and their interphases JF - Journal of applied polymer science N2 - Thermoplastic modified thermosets are of great interest especially due to their improved fracture toughness. Comparable enhancements have been achieved by adding different nanofillers including inorganic particles such as nanosized boehmite. Here, we present a nanomechanical study of two composite systems, the first comprising a polycarbonate (PC) layer in contact with epoxy resin (EP) and the second consisting of a PC layer containing boehmite nanoparticles (BNP) which is also in contact with an EP layer. The interaction between PC and EP monomer is tested by in situ Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) analysis, from which a reaction induced phase separation of the PC phase is inferred. Both systems are explored by atomic force microscopy (AFM) force spectroscopy. AFM force-distance curves (FDC) show no alteration of the mechanical properties of EP at the interface to PC. However, when a PC phase loaded with BNP is put in contact with an epoxy system during curing, a considerable mechanical improvement exceeding the rule of mixture was detected. The trend of BNP to agglomerate preferentially around EP dominated regions and the stiffening effect of BNP on EP shown by spatial resolved measurements of Young's modulus, suggest the effective presence of BNP within the EP phase. KW - Composites KW - Mechanical properties KW - Nanoparticles KW - Thermoplastics KW - Thermosets PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-515965 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/app.50231 SN - 0021-8995 SN - 1097-4628 VL - 138 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-51596 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Cano Murillo, Natalia A1 - Elert, Anna Maria A1 - Sturm, Heinz ED - Glatzel, T. T1 - Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy JF - Beilstein Journal of nanotechnology N2 - A key application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the measurement of physical properties at sub-micrometer resolution. Methods such as force–distance curves (FDCs) or dynamic variants (such as intermodulation AFM (ImAFM)) are able to measure mechanical properties (such as the local stiffness, kr) of nanoscopic heterogeneous materials. For a complete structure–property correlation, these mechanical measurements are considered to lack the ability to identify the chemical structure of the materials. In this study, the measured attractive force, Fattr, acting between the AFM tip and the sample is shown to be an independent measurement for the local chemical composition and hence a complete structure–property correlation can be obtained. A proof of concept is provided by two model samples comprised of (1) epoxy/polycarbonate and (2) epoxy/boehmite. The preparation of the model samples allowed for the assignment of material phases based on AFM topography. Additional chemical characterization on the nanoscale is performed by an AFM/infrared-spectroscopy hybrid method. Mechanical properties (kr) and attractive forces (Fattr) are calculated and a structure–property correlation is obtained by a manual principle component analysis (mPCA) from a kr/Fattr diagram. A third sample comprised of (3) epoxy/polycarbonate/boehmite is measured by ImAFM. The measurement of a 2 × 2 µm cross section yields 128 × 128 force curves which are successfully evaluated by a kr/Fattr diagram and the nanoscopic heterogeneity of the sample is determined. KW - AFM force spectroscopy KW - Composites KW - Principle component analysis KW - Structure–property correlation KW - Van der Waals forces PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-520175 DO - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.12.5 SN - 2190-4286 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - 58 EP - 71 PB - Beilstein Institute CY - Frankfurt am Main AN - OPUS4-52017 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -