Effects of clay on the morphology of poly(acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene) and polypropylene nanocomposites

Abstract

The effects of clay on the morphology of the poly(acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene) (ABS)/polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites were investigated. From the studies of wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of the ABS/PP (70/30) nanocomposites with clay, it was observed that most of the clay existed in the ABS matrix because of the good affinity between the ABS and clay which contained benzyl group. From the studies of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, the size of the PP droplet decreased with clay from 16.7 to 5.6 μm when the clay was added up to 4.0 phr. When the clay content was increased, the droplet of the dispersed phase (PP) was shown to elongated structure. The elongated structure could be explained by the decrease of the viscosity ratio of the PP and continuous phase (ABS) with clay, which corresponded to the increase of the viscosity of the continuous phase (ABS/clay). From the results of the SEM, TEM, and WAXD analysis, it is suggested that the increase of the viscosity of the continuous phase (ABS/clay) is mainly due to the location of clay in the ABS matrix. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:1671–1677, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers

Studies on Mechanical, Thermal, and Morphological Properties of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyoxymethylene Nanocomposite

“…Addition of block or graft copolymers as compatibilizer during processing helps in reducing interfacial tension and increasing interfacial adhesion through bridging or making entanglement between the polymers that improves the compatibility of the blends [17][18][19][20][21]. Many research groups [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] have reported nanoclay as a good compatibilizer in immiscible polymer blends over the past several years.…”

Effect of nanostructured fly ash on mechanical, dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of PP/ABS blends

“…Further, the breakup or elongated dispersed polymer phase droplets with the incorporation of filler reported in various research works [10,11] could also be the reason for the increase in η* of the blend composite system. Moreover, the morphological data of the present blend composite systems evidenced the entrapped NFA particles at the blend interface that can also be ascribed to the increased η* of the composite systems as compared with neat PP/ABS blend.…”

“…Similar kind of observation has also been reported by Gcwabaza et al [11] in study of PP/PBS/ C20A blend nanocomposites. However, Sung et al [10] also reported that in case of any compatibilization effect of filler in the blend system, a possible shift of tan δ peak value is expected. Similar facts, i.e., the shift in tan δ peaks of NFA filled PP/ABS blend composites, have been observed in the present study which supports the compatibilization effect of NFA within PP/ABS blend matrix phases.…”

“…The higher E′ values of NFA filled composite are due to the homogeneous dispersion of NFA particles within the PP and ABS phases, which has been confirmed in morphological section. Moreover, Sung et al [10], Gcwabaza et al [11] and Zhang et al [12] have reported that the particle inclusion compatibilization of immiscible blends can increase the viscoelastic properties of the composite systems. Therefore, the enhanced E′ values of PP/ABS/NFA blend composites indicated simultaneous action of NFA particles as compatibilizer as well as reinforcing filler in immiscible PP/ABS blend.…”

“…The research articles [10][11][12] have also been mentioned the rigid filler compatibilization of immiscible polymer blends. The rigid filler reinforced polymer blends have showed the successful pathway for potential use of these industrial byproducts in polymer industry in terms of cost reduction and improved performance [7,13].…”