Influence of interphase and filler distribution on the elastic properties of nanoparticle filled polymers

The present work presents a preliminary study on the effect of the filler distribution on the elastic modulus of a nanoparticle filled polymer. To this end, two different theoretical approaches are implemented and compared. Both of them account for an interphase layer embedding the nanoparticle, with mechanical properties different from those of the matrix. Conversely, only one of them accounts for the variation of the interparticle distance. The comparison between these models allows to draw some conclusions on the effect of the filler distribution