ORIGINAL PAPER Strong thermoplastic elastomers created using nickel nanopowder Witold Brostow • Martina Brozynski • Tea Datashvili • Oscar Olea-Mejı ´a Received: 15 February 2011 / Revised: 30 June 2011 / Accepted: 30 June 2011 / Published online: 22 July 2011 Ó Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract We have decided to investigate whether addition of nickel (Ni) to a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) will make TPE properties better for demanding applications. We have found that Ni particles moved well during low (100 °C) temperature blending, with the polymer providing more uniform particle dispersion. In contrast, at 160 °C, lower viscosity prevented particle dispersion and supported Ni agglomerations. All samples processed at low temperatures showed increased (by &10 °C) melting temperatures, higher crystallinity, and a 1.5 times higher Young’s modulus E. While addition of Ni increases brittleness B of the blends, and so does vulcanization, a combination of both treatments lowers B. Some Ni particles go into existing free volume spaces in vulcanized materials thus enhancing mechanical properties including the storage modulus E 0 ; some other filler particles create new free volume pockets increasing the elongation at break; thus, Ni particles at both kinds of locations provide lower values of brittleness. The addition of 0.5 wt% Ni particles to the uncured TPE matrix decreases the amount of extracted W. Brostow (&)  M. Brozynski  T. Datashvili Laboratory of Advanced Polymers & Optimized Materials (LAPOM), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART), University of North Texas, 1150 Union Circle # 305310, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA e-mail: brostow@unt.edu URL: http://www.unt.edu/LAPOM/ M. Brozynski e-mail: mbrzynsk@yahoo.com T. Datashvili e-mail: tcd0033@unt.edu O. Olea-Mejı ´a Centro Conjunto de Investigacio ´n en Quı ´mica Sustentable, Facultad de Quı ´mica, Universidad Auto ´noma del Estado de Me ´xico, Toluca, Mexico 50120, Mexico e-mail: oleaoscar@yahoo.com.mx 123 Polym. Bull. (2011) 67:1671–1696 DOI 10.1007/s00289-011-0571-3