Radiation processing of nanocomposites

Research on radiation processing of nanocomposites has been initiated at the Radiation Processing Technology Division of MINT in the past two years. The main focus of this research is to utilize indigenous natural polymers for production of nanocomposites materials. Natural rubber/clay composites and thermoplastic natural rubber/clay composites are the important materials that under studied. On the other hand, specialty products such as high abrasion and high scratch resistance materials have many industrial applications and it involved the usage of nano-sized silico-organic particles. In this area, palm oil acrylate is seen to have potential to be utilized in the formation of nano-sized silico-organic hybrids. (author)