Scattering Studies on Hierarchically Self-Organized Filler Particles in Polymers

In this study, we investigated the self-organization of nanoparticles dispersed in polymer melts under applied mechanical energy imposed to mixtures that are composed of a bulk of the particle powder and a bulk of the polymer melt. Using various scattering methods that enable the exploration of structures that exist over a length scale that spans from ~0.1 nm to ~20 mm, we elucidated that the self-organized particles had hierarchical structures with various hierarchical levels as follows: primary particles (PPs), aggregates of the PPs fused together, clusters of the aggregates, and partially interdigitating mass-fractal structures built up by the clusters.