Nanoparticles and nanocomposites find widespread uses in a variety of fields, such as building materials, architecture, optics, food packaging, optoelectronics, semiconductors, medicine, textiles, cosmetics, and catalysis. Compared to their microparticle cousins, polymeric nanocomposites-a unique family of materials-perform better because they blend organic polymers with inorganic nanoparticles. As a result, they ought to improve the domain of engineering applications. Inorganic nanoparticles can significantly alter the properties of a polymer matrix. Flexible polymer composites augmented with nanoparticles, like nano-zinc oxide and nano-titanium dioxide, provide new design opportunities with enhanced mechanical and chemical properties. The mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties of polypropylene composites filled with nano-titanium dioxide and nano-zinc oxide were investigated in this work. The weight percentage of nanoparticles in the matrix ranged from 1 to 5. For improved surface adherence and fine dispersion, nanoparticles were coated with silane, and maleic anhydride grafted styren-ethylene-butylene styrene, respectively, prior to melting mixing. To investigate the effects of modified and unmodified nanoparticles at different concentrations on the mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties, polypropylene/nanoparticle nanocomposites were made using a twin-screw extruder and a heat press. All tensile parameters, such as yield strength, tensile strength, and tensile modulus, have increased in nanoparticles due to their rigid structure, whereas impact strength and elongation at break have reduced. As a result, even though nano-titanium dioxide is harder than nano-zinc oxide, nanocomposites including it showed more elongation than those containing the latter. The polypropylene/nano-titanium dioxide nanocomposite exhibited greater productivity due to the presence of silane, as compared to maleic anhydride styrene-ethylene-butylene. However, compared to silane-modified nano-zinc oxide nanocomposites, the tensile properties of nano-titanium dioxide nanocomposites were greater. This time, polypropylene has been used to induce the more refined structure of nano-titanium dioxide, which guarantees the result of decreased elongation at break. This is probably because silane and nano-titanium dioxide are more compatible. The melt temperature, crystallization temperature, and crystallinity level were also ascertained by thermal analysis.

Keywords: Nanocomposites, polypropylene, nano-titanium dioxide, nano-zinc oxide, morphology, mechanical properties.

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