Relationship between the Morphology and Physico-Mechanical Properties of Polyethylene/Clay Nanocomposites

Abstract

Rheology, morphology and thermal behavior of HDPE/Clay nanocomposites were studied. The mechanical properties of these materials including tensile and creep behaviors were also taken into account. Different PE-g-MA samples with different MA contents and different rheological properties were laboratory synthesized and used as compatibilizer of PE and Clay. The results of X-ray diffraction in conjunction with the results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis indicated that, increasing in degree of grafted MA increases the penetration of PE chains onto the clay interlayer leading to intercalation and exfoliation. The intercalated and especially exfoliated nanocomposites exhibited higher viscosity and elasticity in particular at low frequency ranges, showing the formation of three dimensional networks with high interfacial interaction. The presence of such a network was evidenced by tand studies where the pseudo-solid like behavior was observed for exfoliated nanocomposites. From these results it was demonstrated that the linear viscoelastic properties of the nanocomposites have a reliable sensitivity to the extent of clay dispersion and they can be used as indirect method in the prediction of the morphology and therefore thermal and mechanical behavior of the nanocomposites. Incorporation of clay decreased the onset temperature of degradation due to the Hofmann elimination reaction, but increased remarkably the mid-point of the degradation temperature. Our laboratory synthesized intercalated nanocomposites displayed higher thermal stability than those of exfoliated samples. This was attributed to the barrier effect of clay layers to oxygen and volatile products, during the degradation of part of polymer chains which was intercalated in clay interlayer. Interestingly the results showed that the effect of Hofmann elimination reaction which decreases the onset temperature degradation of modified clay nanocomposites, can effectively be eliminated using a proper antioxidant in the mixing process of nanocomposites. The results showed that, incorporation of clay increases the young modulus and yield stress but decreases the elongation at break. In agreement to the results of thermal behavior, intercalated nanocomposites showed higher increase in properties than those of exfoliated. The PE nanocomposites showed lower creep strain and higher creep recovery than those of unfilled matrixes.