Abstract
AbstractBackgroundIn the fabrication of polymer/clay nanocomposites, the compatibilizer plays a vital role in altering the properties of nanocomposite systems. The present work primarily deals with the development of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/clay nanocomposites containing different compatibilizers (PP-g-MA, PE-g-MA and PS-g-MA) with 5 wt.% nanoclay.MethodsThe various PMMA nanocomposites were prepared by melt intercalation method using twin screw extruder followed by injection moulding to make specimens for mechanical testing.ResultsThe mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of nanocomposites were evaluated by tensile test, impact, hardness, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The intercalated structure of the PMMA nanocomposites is validated by XRD and TEM analysis. The results are found to be good agreement with each other.ConclusionsThe TGA data demonstrate that PMMA nanocomposites exhibit enhanced thermal stability of 22-36 °C with respect to pure PMMA, at 50% weight loss is considered as point of reference. The PMMA nanocomposite prepared with PS-g-MA compatibilizer promotes adequate interface adhesion between the nanoclay and polymer matrix. As a result, PMMA-5-PS sample displays improved mechanical properties over PMMA-5-PP and PMMA-5-PE samples. The maximum improvement of tensile strength, Young’s modulus and hardness for the PMMA-5-PS nanocomposites over PMMA-5-PE is estimated to be 8, 2 and 26 %, respectively.
Highlights
In the fabrication of polymer/clay nanocomposites, the compatibilizer plays a vital role in altering the properties of nanocomposite systems
The aim of the present work is to investigate the role of various compatibilizers (PP-g-MA, polyethylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), polystyrene-graft-maleic anhydride (PS-g-MA)) on the properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/clay nanocomposites developed by melt blending method
Nanoclay (Nanomer 1.31 PS, MMT clay surface modified with 15–35 % octadecylamine and 0.5–5 wt.% aminopropyltriethoxysilane), polypropylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA), polyethylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA) and polystyrene-block-poly(ethyleneran-butylene)-block-polystyrene-graft-maleic anhydride (PS-g-MA) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, USA
Summary
In the fabrication of polymer/clay nanocomposites, the compatibilizer plays a vital role in altering the properties of nanocomposite systems. Polymer nanocomposites have received considerable interest, both in academia and in industry, because of their enhanced properties at very low loading levels compared with conventional polymer composites They generally display superior properties such as mechanical, thermal, gas-barrier property, flame retardant and dimensional stability with respect to conventional filler composites. These improved properties are often obtained by the incorporation of nanofillers with preferably less than 100 nm in size (Ray and Okamoto 2003). Its application is restricted at higher temperature due to its relatively poor thermal stability To overcome this problem, nanotechnology is implemented in this field, in order to further improve the properties of PMMA. Compatibilizers are generally added in the nanocomposites in order to improve the interfacial adhesion between organoclay and polymer matrix that generally results in enhanced mechanical and morphological properties (Lim et al 2006; Chow et al 2005)
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