Morphology and physical properties of polyethylene/silicate nanocomposite prepared by melt intercalation

Abstract

Maleated polyethylene (PEMA)/silicate nanocomposites with a different aspect ratio of silicate and maleated PEMA/SiO2 composite were prepared by melt intercalation. The nanocomposites with a high aspect ratio silicate (montmorillonite) showed a faster decrease in the terminal slope of the storage modulus and a steeper increase in complex viscosity than those with a low aspect ratio silicate (laponite) and SiO2. The addition of montmorillonite increases the crystallization and the melting temperature of PEMA but decreases above 3 vol % of the silicate content because of the increased viscosity. The nanocomposite with montmorillonite showed the highest yield strength and secant modulus among the composites because of the highest aspect ratio of the filler. It also revealed strong interfacial adhesion with the matrix and orientation during tensile deformation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1454–1463, 2002

Thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of polypropylene/clay/wood flour nanocomposites

“…The addition of wood flour (10 phr) had no significant effect on the X c , while the higher loading of wood flour (20-30 phr) greatly reduced the X c . This indicates that the X c is generally affected by the dispersion, the loading level, the surface chemistry of fillers and the viscosity of hybrids [31].…”

Preparation and properties of recycled HDPE/clay hybrids

“…However, the crystallization behavior can be affected by the dispersion state and contents of fillers, the surface chemistry of the fillers, and the viscosity of composites. 18 For the RHDPE/clay system, clay could play a nucleating role and increase the crystallization temperature; on the other hand, it could also impede the crystallization because of a decrease in the diffusion rate of PE chain caused by an increase of viscosity, and shift T c to a lower temperature. Without compatibilizers, the nucleating role of clay was weakened because of the poor compatibility.…”

“…The addition of clay increased the crystallization peak temperature of PE, and lowered the crystallinity level, acting as a nucleating agent. 14,18,19,24 The thermal conductivity of the PE/clay nanocomposites decreased with an increase of the silicate volume fraction. 23 Although some work on the reinforcement on recycled PE has been done, [28][29][30] little effort has been made to study recycled PE/clay systems.…”

“…[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Melt intercalation is the most convenient and appropriate technique for the industrial preparation of polymer/clay nanocomposites. In this procedure, the clay is directly dispersed in the molten polymer using a conventional twin-screw extruder.…”

Rheology of Polymers with Nanofillers

“…With increasing frequency the storage modulus of CPNC drifted toward that of the matrix. Wang et al [2002] also studied CPNC containing PE-MA but with three silicates: C20A, Laponite SCPX2231, and synthetic SiO 2 , having the aspect ratio p = 100 to 200, 20 to 30, and 1, respectively. Since XRD did not show diffraction peaks down to 2θ = 2 o , the systems were well dispersed with d 001 ≥ 4.4 nm.…”