HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES, AND SCRATCH RESISTANCE OF MELT INTERCALATED POLYMER-CLAY NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

The addition of nanoparticles or nanoclays to polymers has been extensively studied in recent years to examine the benefit of their addition in enhancing mechanical and thermal barrier properties. However, only a few studies have been devoted towards understanding the deformation behavior. In the present study, the hierarchical structure of melt-intercalated polymer nanocomposites and the interaction of clay with the polymer matrix are studied by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is combined to establish relationships among scratch/mar resistance and deformation mechanism.