Characterization of the Kinetics of Intercalation/Exfoliation Processes of Nanoclay in Polyamide

Abstract

Nanoclay dispersion in polyamide (PA) matrix has been investigated using a newly developed online measured electrical conductance (OMEC) method. This is based on measuring the electrical conductivity during the mixing process in the chamber of the internal mixer. The obtained results have shown that the online conductance increases up to 60 × 10−6 S, which corresponds to the dispersion (intercalation/exfoliation) of nanoclay in the PA matrix. The results concerning macro and micro dispersion of nanoclay received from different experimental techniques, like optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, SAXS analysis, and stress strain behavior confirm this correlation. The degradation processes of polyamide and surfactants however, restrict the application of the online conductance method at high processing temperature.