Understanding the effect of ultra-low nanofiller loadings on optically-transparent polycarbonate

The use of fillers in materials engineering has long been used to improve material properties such as strength, stiffness and toughness. However, these enhancements tend to occur at the detriment to optical transparency in transparent polymeric materials. Nano-sized fillers or nanofillers are thought to maintain the transparency of such materials due to their small size. Moreover because of their smaller size, nanofillers have larger interfacial areas and can therefore provide increased interaction sites (providing fine dispersion in the medium). [Continues.]