Preparation of Polystyrene/Clay Nanocomposites by Free‐Radical Polymerization in Dispersion

Abstract

Fully exfoliated PS/clay nanocomposites were prepared via FRP in dispersion. Na‐MMT clay was pre‐modified using MPTMS before being used in a dispersion polymerization process. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the clay concentrations on the monomer conversion, the polymer molecular weight, and the morphology and thermal stability of the nanocomposites prepared via dispersion polymerization. DLS and SEM revealed that the particle size decreased and became more uniformly distributed with increasing clay loading. XRD and TEM revealed that nanocomposites at low clay loading yielded exfoliated structures, while intercalated structures were obtained at higher clay loading.magnified image

The role of oleate-functionalized layered double hydroxide in the melt compounding of polypropylene nanocomposites

“…These results might be due to the presence of o-LDH residues at the PP surface, which act as isolator and protect the bulk polymer. Besides, these residues might retard the diffusion of decomposition volatiles [24]. In comparison, the temperature at maximum degradation of both PP nanocomposites reduced slightly, which might be due to a catalytic action of the nanofiller like in the catalytic thermal cracking of alkanes [23].…”

Mechanical reinforcement in magadiite/styrene‐butadiene rubber composites

“…Platelet‐filled elastomer composites have been studied extensively as reviewed previously and in papers cited therein. Considerable attention has focused on layered smectite clays such as laponite and montmorillonite (MMT), often functionalized by grafted silanes . Compared to spheroidal silica particles (typically 5–40 nm primary particle diameter), nanometer‐thick platelets are attractive because they offer a higher surface area per unit filler weight.…”

Preparing Exfoliated MMT/Polymer Nanocomposites by Combined Latex Compounding and Spray‐Drying

“…Detailed observation to the highly dispersed MMT layers, as seen in Figure 3h, revealed that many of MMT domains consisted of two to four single layers with a more disordered structure compared with MMT/SBR nanocomposites. Interestingly, without any organic modification, the hydrophilic MMT layers can randomly distribute in the hydrophobic PS matrix in an exfoliated dispersion state, which seemed almost impossible in such a thermodynamically immiscible system at so high loading 26, 27. However, it was successfully achieved by this combined method.…”