Mechanical, Thermo-Physical and Ablation Properties of Nitrile Based Nanocomposite

Abstract: Rubber-based nanocomposites have some excellent properties due to combination of improved thermal, ablation and mechanical properties which are important to enhance the material performance especially in aerospace application. In this work the effect of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) on the thermal and ablation as well as mechanical properties of the nanocomposites based on the nitrile rubber (NBR) was investigated. The results showed that by addition of 3 wt.% of OMMT to NBR, its compression modulus exhibits more than 40% rise, while has negligible effect on the degradation of polymer beneath 800 °C according to thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The actual effect of OMMT will appear at a temperature upper than 1000 ºC produced in ablation test. Addition of OMMT generally improves the ablation of the NBR. The maximum reduction in mass ablation rate is equal to 30% compared to the reference (OMMT-free) sample. Temperature-dependent thermo-physical properties of material are calculated by thermal decomposition kinetic parameters obtained from thermo-gravimetric analysis and temperature-time curve recorded at any distance from heated surface by ablation test.