Preparation of the organic montmorillonite with higher thermalstability and larger layer-spacing via micelle intercalation mechanism

Abstract

The organic-montmorillonite(OMMT) modified by Triphenyl phosphate(TPP) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide(CTAB) was prepared by using different methods,and their properties were characterized by using X-ray diffraction(XRD),Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),optical microscopy(OM),thermalgravimetric analysis(TGA),Elemental analysis,inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer(ICP-OES) method and Scanning electron microscopy(SEM),respectively.The results suggest that in mixed solvents of acetone/H2O,the appropriate amount of CTAB and TPP can form micelle and insert into the layer of MMT,and the resulting organic-montmorillonite named of T-MMT has larger layer spacing than those simply prepared by using CTAB intercalation(C-MMT).The results prove that the product has about 21.54% of CTAB and 17.47±1.05% of TPP in MMT,and its initial thermal degradation temperature is about 17.4 ℃ higher than the traditional C-MMT.The organic MMT prepared by this method can not only enhance the MMT layer spacing,but also prevent the evaporation of TPP.T-MMT overcomes the problem of low thermal stability of the quaternary ammonium modified montmorillonite,and it can be used in modifying the engineering plastics that has a high thermal-processing temperature.