Morphology, Mechanical and Thermal Properties of PBT-TiO2 Polymer Nanocomposite

This research aims to study the effects of the TiO2 in PBT composite fibers on the thermal properties, mechanical properties and photocatalytic properties of the polymer composite. The results showed that the tensile strength of the TiO2/PBT fibers decreased with increasing in the content of TiO2 in polymer matrix. The content of TiO2 in composite fibers did not affect the thermal properties of the fibers but the % crystalline of the composite fibers were increased with content of TiO2 in the composite fibers. The SEM images demonstrated that the TiO2 were well dispersed in the composite fibers. Moreover, some aggregation of the TiO2 in the composite fibers was found at high content of TiO2. The photocatalytic characteristic of the composite fiber was studied thought out self-cleaning properties. The presents of the content of TiO2 in the PBT fibers significantly showed the improving of the self-cleaning properties under UV-A radiation. The TiO2/PBT fibers in the presents of TiO2 10wt% showed the best results of self-cleaning under 168 hours of UV radiation.