Effect of CePO₄ nanostructures in transparent PMMA/castor-oil based PU IPNs on thermal stability, optical and mechanical properties

Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) based on PMMA/castor-oil based PU/cerium phosphate nanoparticles (CePO₄) constitute an important type of materials to modulate the stiffness and confers ductile behavior to PMMA. A comparison of CePO₄ dispersion into different ratios of PMMA/PU IPNs between sonication method and the classic magnetic stirring during the sequential polymerization synthesis was done through structural, optical, thermal, morphological and mechanical analysis. The results demonstrated that sonication is the adequate method to disperse CePO₄ in low viscous systems such as PMMA/PU 70/30 and 60/40 wt.%, while magnetic stirring favors the dispersion in high viscous systems (PMMA/PU 50/50 wt.%). Thanks to the physical interaction, the good compatibility/miscibility between PMMA/PU and CePO₄ is reached. The obtained experimental results indicated that the luminescent CePO₄ nanoparticles, in addition to improve the structural properties and the Young’s modulus, can reduce voids in the networks.