Influence of ordering and disordering of organoclay on rheological properties of uncured and cured ethylene-octene copolymer nanocomposites

Abstract

In this work, the interplay effects of organoclay (OMt) and curing agent content on the rheological behavior and morphology of uncured and cured ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC)/OMt nanocomposites were studied. The samples with various amounts of OMt (0, 1, 3, 5 and 7wt%) were prepared and dynamically cured using dicumyl peroxide (DCP) at two concentrations (0.5 and 1wt%) in an internal mixer. Morphological studies were conducted on the samples using low angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Different schemes were proposed for showing the morphology of OMt particles within the uncured and cured nanocomposites. Moreover, it was found that the addition of both OMt and DCP had synergistic effects in increasing of the storage modulus of the samples, especially at high frequency region. Other schemes were prepared to show the morphology of OMt platelets after frequency sweep performed on the uncured and cured samples. The rheological data was also analyzed using Carreau-Yasuda model. In addition, in order to better understand the rheological behavior, Cole-Cole plots and the variation of relaxation modulus against time were studied.