Effect of Organoclay Ordering and Agglomeration on Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Uncured and Dynamically Cured Ethylene‐Octene Copolymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

In this work, the effects of organoclay (OMMT) and cross‐linking agent on thermal and mechanical properties as well as the morphology of dynamically cured nanocomposites based on ethylene‐octene copolymer are studied. The nanocomposites containing 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt% OMMT are first prepared and then cured with 0.5 and 1 wt% dicumyl peroxide. Low angle X‐ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy reveal that the size of clay tactoids is increased with the increase of OMMT content within the nanocomposites especially for the uncross‐linked matrix. In addition, the distance between adjacent clay layers is increased for the cured nanocomposites containing 1 and 3 wt% OMMT, however, it remains relatively unchanged for higher amounts of the nanofiller. In uncross‐linked systems, the nanocomposites containing up to 5 wt% OMMT exhibit a remarkable enhancement in stress and strain at break compared to that of the matrix alone. With the addition of further OMMT content, although the stress and strain at break are both decreased, still remained much higher than that of the pristine copolymer. A mechanism is also proposed to compare the microstructure of the uncured and cured nanocomposites before and after stretching.

The impact of organo‐montmorillonite on rheology and crystalline structure of uncured and cured acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) nanocomposites

“…Then, they were caged into a metal net and the net was submerged in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and in toluene each for 72 h to take out the uncured portion of the materials. Next, the samples were dried and the values were determined by using the following equation: [ 75, 76 ] where F is the weight fraction of filler, W is the initial weight of the sample, and E is the weight of polymers extracted by solvents.…”

Effect of injection molding on structure and properties of poly(styrene‐ethylene‐butylene‐styrene) and its nanocomposite with functionalized montmorillonite

“…Metal cations in MMT can be cation exchanged with quaternary ammonium salts to form organic intercalated MMT (OMMT). [15,16] The interlayer distance of OMMT is increased and it can be more uniformly dispersed in the polymer. Quaternary ammonium salts will degrade at high temperature, and Hoffman elimination reactions will catalyze the degradation of certain polymers or alkanes, [2,17,18] which will affect the thermal stability of polymer nanocomposites and limit the upper processing temperature.…”