A novel exfoliated silicone rubber/clay nanocomposite has been synthesized by hydroxyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane and organoclay. HTAB and TPAC were used as swelling agents to treat Na montmorillonite for forming organoclay. The organoclay and nanocomposite were confirmed by X ray diffraction (XRD ). The d spacing in TPAC mont is 4 96 nm ,being larger than that of the HTAB mont. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites have been measured by tensile testing machine. The results proved that the nanometer scale silicate layers of TPAC mont were completely exfoliated in silicone rubber matrix in the cases of 1% to 10% TPAC|mont content.The nanocomposites exhibit markedly improved mechanical properties and thermal stability when compared with the pure polymer or conventional aerosilica|filled silicone rubber.A 200%～300% increase in the tensile strength and a 100% increase in the elongation at break were found for TPAC mont/silicone rubber as compared to that of pure silicone rubber.The reinforing and intercalating mechanism of silicate layers in silicone rubber matrix were discussed.
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