Brillouin scattering and tribological study of PMMA/SiO2 nanocomposite

In recent years, nanocomposites materials, and in particular polymer nanocomposites have been developped for various applications, as high mechanical strengh, enhanced tribological properties and fire retardency [1-5]. These new materials could be used for extreme conditions in many industrials fields. Indeed, nanocomposites may combine the beneficial properties of polymer (easy shaping and low cost processing), with those of inorganic particles. The nanofillers may allow for tailoring the material according to the required properties (mechanical, tribological, optical, dielectric, etc.). In particular, due to the possible wide interphases between polymer and nanoparticles, some of the mechanical properties may be highly enhanced as fracture toughness or impact strength. Tribological applications could also potentially benefit from the development of polymer-based nanocomposites used as coatings. Therefore, some nanocomposites are beginning to be used as sliding elements in bulk or coating forms [2, 5]. In this work, we study PMMA/SiO2 nanocomposites, prepared for industrial applications. Our analysis deals with friction and wear tests on the one hand and with Brillouin spectroscopy (BS) on the other. The latter is used to assess the exact elasti