title: Enhancing the mechanical properties of BN nanosheet-polymer composites by uniaxial drawing.
abstract: We have used liquid exfoliation of hexagonal Boron-Nitride (BN) to prepare composites of BN nanosheets of three different sizes in polyvinylchloride matrices. These composites show low levels of reinforcement, consistent with poor alignment of the nanosheets as-described by a modified version of Halpin-Tsai theory. However, drawing of the composites to 300% strain results in a considerable increase in mechanical properties with the maximum composite modulus and strength both ∼×3 higher than that of the pristine polymer. In addition, the rate of increase of modulus with BN volume fraction was up to 3-fold larger than for the unstrained composites. This is higher than can be explained by drawing-induced alignment using Halpin-Tsai theory. However, the data was consistent with a combination of alignment and strain-induced de-aggregation of BN multilayers.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12 Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Rahim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: Alan P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: Umar
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Jonathan N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Coleman