Novel organic/inorganic nanocomposite of polyethylene. I. Preparation via in situ polymerization approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT:A novel methodology for the preparation of polyethylene/palygorskite, "in situ coordinated polymerization," was proposed. A Ziegler-Natta catalyst was first supported on the surface of nanoscale crystal fibers of palygorskite and subsequently used to initiate ethylene polymerization on the surface of the fibers. The palygorskite was encapsulated by polyethylene and became reinforcement fibers of the composite. The palygorskite fibers were heat-treated to remove water, to ensure that the supported titanium species possessed proper activity for the polymerization of ethylene. The effect of the conditions of heat-treating, titanium-supporting, and other factors such as temperature and type and amount of the cocatalyst on the initiation activity of the palygorskite fibers were investigated.

Palygorskite as an epoxy polymer reinforcement agent

“…Although palygorskite has been investigated as a reinforcement agent for several other polymer systems [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], the benefits seldom approach those observed for the soft polymer matrix standard in the present work. For instance, the tensile strength of polyethylene-palygorskite formed by in-situ polymerization was increased by a maximum of only 20% in comparison to the pristine polymer [15,16,19].…”

“…For instance, the tensile strength of polyethylene-palygorskite formed by in-situ polymerization was increased by a maximum of only 20% in comparison to the pristine polymer [15,16,19]. For the related polypropylene-palygorskite composite system, the clay served as a good nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene, and the relative crystallinity and crystallization temperature of the composite materials generally increased with filler content [17].…”

“…Nevertheless, owing to the relatively high surface area and lath morphology of these minerals, particularly in the case of palygorskite, they have found use as absorbents, pigments, catalysts, and rheological control agents [5,[7][8][9][10]. However, palygorskite has received relatively little attention as a polymer reinforcement agent with only a few studies being devoted to composites of polyolefins, polyurethane, polyimide, and polyamide [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Effect of attapulgite on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of poly(butylene succinate) nanocomposites

“…Attapulgite (AT) is a kind of important layered material [1][2][3]. The objective of this research was to improve the dispersion of the layered materials in the PBS matrix.…”

Recent progress in immobilization of late-transition-metal complexes with diimine ligands for olefin polymerization

“…The extension strengths and heat resistances of the nanocomposites were higher than those of the original polymers or other materials mixed with silicates [50,51]. Rong et al [52,53] were the first to use palygorskite clay as the support for Ziegler-Natta catalysts to produce PE/clay nanocomposites. The palygorskite provided a new environment as a result of clustering of palygorskite nanofibers, which provided a large surface area and strong adsorptive capacity.…”