The effects of poly(amide-imide) coating on the thermal, combustion and mechanical properties of polyvinyl chloride ZnO nanocomposites

The surface of new polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/ZnO nanocomposite films was coated using semi-aromatic synthesized poly(amide-imide) (PAS) by dip-coating process. ZnO nanoparticles were organo-modified with imide functionalized polyethyleneimine (PEI) and were used for preparation of PVC nanocomposite films by solution casting method. The effect of PAI coating along with PEI surface modified ZnO nanoparticles (PSZN) on the morphology, thermal stability, combustion and mechanical properties of PVC were investigated. The uniform dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles and PAI coating manner on surface of the PVC films were confirmed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray and elemental mapping. From thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA) results, the 10 mass% loss temperature (T-10) increased from 229 degrees C to 244 degrees C in PVC-coated with PAI containing 2 mass% of PSZN and also char residue of PVC increase from 10.5 to 28.9% in PVC-coated contaning 5 mass% of PSZN. According to microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC) and tensile test results, the peak of heat release rate decreased from 129.8 W/g to 81.2 W/g and the tensile strength increased from 28.7 to 43.6 MPa for PVC-coated containing 5 mass% of PSZN compared to the neat PVC.