IMPROVEMENT OF MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF POLYPROPYLENE NANOCOMPOSITES VARYING NANOCLAYS AND COMPATIBILIZERS

摘要

There is a significant interest in the potential for layered silicates to increase strength, toughness, thermal stability, thermal conductivity, and flame retardancy of polymers. The use of nanoclays as additives in non-polar polymer matrices requires the use of compatibilizers, which act as a bridge between nanoclay and polymer matrix. Montmorillonite and hectorite are the most commonly used smectite-type layered silicates for the preparation of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). Smectite is a valuable mineral class for industrial applications because of their high cation exchange capacities, surface area and surface reactivity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the enhancement of mechanical and thermal properties of polypropylene matrices by adding various smectite based nanoclays with various compatibilizers. These PNCs were produced using the Polymer NanoComposite Injection Molding Compounder (PNC-IMC). Material compounding and subsequent injection molding are done directly with only one plasticizing process with using a heated melt pipe and a melt accumulator. As compatibilizer a polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride copolymer and homopolymer has been used. Tensile strength and Young's modulus were measured to evaluate the influence of different nanoclays in the PP matrices. In order to study the nanoclay dispersion and the degree of intercalation/exfoliation of the materials obtained, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were carried out.