Experimental investigation of tensile creep behavior of polymer nanocomposites

Creep and creep fracture represents one of the major problems associated with the selection and use of engineering materials for high-temperature applications. So the poor creep resistance and dimensional stability of thermoplastics are generally a deficiency, impairing the service life and safety, which is a barrier for their further expansion of applications in engineering. The creep resistance of thermoplastics, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), is studied by adding nanoclay (Cloisite 30B) of different volume percents and investigated at different temperatures with constant loading. It was found that resistance to creep was high for nanocomposites than neat LDPE matrix because nanoclay restricts the slippage, reorientation, and motion of the polymer chain in the polymer nanocomposite.