Compounding, micro injection moulding and characterisation of polycarbonate-nanosized alumina-composites for application in microoptics

The addition of nanosized ceramics to polymers allows for a tailoring of the thermomechanical and optical properties of the used thermoplastic matrix polymers. In this work, the impact of nanosized gamma-alumina filler to polycarbonate APEC2097 on the compounding process and the resulting physical properties is reported. Polymer degradation during compounding affects a plasticising effect and a reduction of the Charpy impact strength. The refractive indices of the polycarbonate-alumina-composites increase with increasing solid load. Due to nanoparticle agglomeration the optical transmittance drops with growing alumina content.