Nano-Reinforced Polymers and Polymer Nanocomposites

The increasing trend in the mission towards the development of reinforced polymers lies in exploring their optimal properties, such as stiffness and load. Nano-reinforced materials are the answer to these requirements. The chapter has introduced the basic aspects of these nano-reinforced polymeric compounds, methods of synthesis, properties and potential applications. Furthermore, given a wide variety of options in terms of nanoparticle compositions, sizes, surface treatment, etc. in the ocean of available polymers, it is almost impossible to perform a judicious experimental screening of all probable combinations in a reasonable timeframe. Thus, computational modeling methods, discussed at the end of this chapter, are very important to predict and investigate the properties of such polymer nanocomposites.