The influence of ZnO nanoparticles on thermal and mechanical behavior of polycarbonate-based polyurethane composites

In this work a series of thermoplastic polycarbonate-based polyurethane (PC-PU) nanocomposites were prepared by addition of ZnO nanoparticles (0.5, 1 and 2 wt.%) in one-step procedure using all aliphatic starting reactants. The influence of zinc oxide on the structure and hydrogen bonding of PC-PU hybrid materials was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Thermal stability and thermal properties of obtained nanocomposites were studied by thermogravimetry (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The effect of phase separation on the mechanical performances was determined by tensile measurements. It was found that the addition of ZnO particles may cause the disruption of phase separation and, hence, affect thermal and mechanical behavior of segmented polycarbonate-based polyurethane nanocomposites.