Comparative studies of the mechanical and thermal properties of clay / copolymer nanocomposites synthesized by two in-situ methods and solution blending method

Abstract

In this study, copolymer/clay nanocomposites were prepared by two different methodologies, the in-situ method and solution blending method. Comparative analyses of mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites fabricated by the two different methods were performed. The solution blending method was found to be an efficient technique to obtain nanocomposites with uniform dispersion of the organoclay loading of up to 10 wt%, simple and fast. On the other hand, the in-situ method produced nanocomposites with good exfoliation and high thermal stability, whereas solution blending method produced materials with good mechanical properties compounds in the nano/clay intercalation and high thermal stability.