Production of nanosized aluminum powders and their application as fillers for composite materials based on ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)

A modified levitation-in-flow Gen-Miller technique is developed to produce nanodisperse aluminum particles 40–200 nm in size with a barrier coating of controlled thickness made of aluminum oxides and (oxy)nitrides for the use as a dielectric filler in composite materials. The polymerization filling technique (in situ polymerization) is used to synthesize new highly filled nanocomposite materials based on UHMWPE and nanodisperse aluminum with the barrier coating combining dielectric, heat-conducting, and plastic properties, which can replace brittle ceramics in a number of fields. The samples of such nanocomposites with a content of nanoaluminum ranging from 20 to 80 wt % were synthesized and characterized by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis.