Author(s)

H. M. Alhusaiki-Alghamdi

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Films of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/polycarbonate (PC) polymer blend doped silicon carbide (SiC) nanopowder are synthesized by the casting method. The study for the structural, optical and electrical behavior of PMMA/PC blend without and with low contents (≤0.8 wt%) of SiC is done. The change of the structure is investigated from X-ray spectra. After the addition of SiC, the intensity of the main X-ray halo peak at 2θ = 20.26° of PMMA/PC is decreased, attributed to an interaction between PMMA/PC. It’s clear that SiC is causing an increase in the amorphous regions inside the PMMA/PC blend. The peaks related to SiC are not found attributed using a small amount of SiC with complete dissolution of SiC. The shift of the intensity for IR bands has supported an interaction between all components. The values of the optical band gap from UV-Vis spectra using indirect transition are decreased with the increase of SiC. The values of the electrical conductivity are low at low frequency attributed to the charge accumulation at the electrode which takes place. The conductivity is increased as the increase of frequency due to the mobility of charge carriers. Furthermore, the conductivity is increased with the increase of SiC contents. The values of ε' and ε'' are very high at the lower frequency and they decrease when the frequency is increased attributed to the effect. The plot of both Z' and Z'' shows dramatic decrease with the increase of frequency.

PMMA/PC Blend, SiC Nanoparticles, XRD, FT-IR, Electrical Properties

Alhusaiki-Alghamdi, H. (2019) Effect of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Nanoparticles on the Spectroscopic Properties and Performance of PMMA/PC Polymer Blend. Journal of Modern Physics, 10, 487-499. doi: 10.4236/jmp.2019.105034.