Evaluation of thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties of metal-oxide dispersed HDPE nanocomposites

In this work, synthesized Fe 2 O 3 , TiO 2 and NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles dispersed high density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer matrix based Fe 2 O 3 /HDPE, TiO 2 /HDPE, NiFe 2 O 4 /HDPE and (Fe 2 O 3 /TiO 2 /NiFe 2 O 4 /HDPE) nanocomposites were fabricated. A comparative study on their thermal properties, mechanical properties, optical properties, and DC electrical properties were performed. The highest Young's modulus was found in the Fe 2 O 3 /HDPE composite which is 30.47% higher than the pure HDPE polymer alone. Hardness was improved in all composites, except for NiFe 2 O 4 /HDPE nanocomposite. Decreased resistivity was observed in NiFe 2 O 4 /HDPE composite only. The highest light absorption in UV–vis range was found in (Fe 2 O 3 /TiO 2 /NiFe 2 O 4 )/HDPE composite, also, the lowest optical band gap energy was found in TiO 2 /HDPE nanocomposite which is 48.88% lower than the pure HDPE polymer alone. All HDPE based nanocomposites showed improved thermal, mechanical, electrical and optical properties and they can be used in biomedical and electronic devices.