The effect on titanium dioxide and silver nanoparticles on the mechanical and thermophysical properties of nanocomposite used in the food packaging

Polystyrene nanocomposites were prepared with varying amounts of nanotitanium dioxide and nanosilver by melt mixing process at 190°C. The nanocomposites structure was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The mechanical properties were obtained with tensile test. The influence of nanoparticles on the thermal properties of polystyrene matrix was examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The results of the SEM showed that both nanoparticles were present in nanocomposite, and the distribution of nanoparticles in the polymer was relatively good, despite the fact that in some places aggregation (with maximum size of 55 nm) were observed. The EDS spectrum showed that the nanocomposite was non-impure and contained three elements of carbon, titanium and silver, and the amount of nanotitanium was about 10 times that of silver. The augment of nanoparticles leading to decrease Young’s modules and stress at break point slightly. But, a point of view yield at break had not seen significantly different (P˃0.05). The investigating of the thermal properties of the samplesshowed they did not differ significantly from the point of view of glass temperature and thermal stability of the polystyrene and nanocomposites.