Effect of perlite nanoparticles addition on the mechanical and microstructure properties of PP/NR blend fabricated by melt mixing processing: Optimizing by Response Surface Approach

The present research has studied the effect of adding perlite and natural rubber nanoparticles with various weight percentages on the tensile modulus and impact strength of polypropylene. For this purpose, different samples were produced and tested using an internal mixer based on the standards of tensile and impact tests. Also, by using of response surface methodology (RSM), the role of input parameters on the responses was investigated in order to achieve optimal mechanical properties and predict these properties with mathematical models in the form of central composite five-level design (CCD). In addition, the SEM test was used to observe the changes made in the microstructure of the samples. The results showed that the addition of 7 wt.% of pearlite nanoparticles to the matrix containing 20 wt.% of natural rubber, the value of the tensile modulus increased by 11.27% and the impact strength by 52.01% compared to the addition of 3 wt.% of pearlite nanoparticles to the same matrix. The results of multiobjective optimization proved that the optimal weight percentage of pearlite nanoparticles and natural rubber was 4.04 and 35.26% wt. respectively. Is. In this case, the highest value obtained for tensile modulus was 508.04 MPa and impact strength was determined to be 108.52 J/m. By observing the SEM images, it was concluded that the change in the size of the elastomeric phase due to the use of different weight percentages of reinforcements has caused the results of the mechanical properties of the samples to differ from each other.