Abstract
We present the effect of organic modifier on crystallinity and nanomechanical properties of polymer clay nanocomposites (PCNs) using two different polymers while maintaining the same nanoclay and organic modifier. Experimental results and interaction energy maps of Polybutylene-Terephthalate- (PBT-) PCN system indicate that the underlying mechanisms of change in crystallinity and improvement in mechanical properties as proposed in altered phase theory are valid. Experimental and molecular simulation studies of PBT-PCN and Nylon6-PCN reveal that a higher crystallinity polymer could require significantly higher attractive and repulsive interaction energies between polymer and organic modifiers to change the crystallinity of the polymer in the PCN significantly and thus improve mechanical properties of the PCN.
Highlights
Polymer clay nanocomposites (PCNs) are widely researched material systems for wide variety of applications in industry because of enhanced mechanical, thermal, optical, and barrier properties
Effect of different organic modifiers, which contain different functional groups and different chain lengths, is studied with Nylon6 in detail [11] and the results indicate that the functional group and backbone chain length of organic modifier have a significant influence on d-spacing of PCNs, crystallinity of polymer, and the elastic modulus of PCNs
We have observed that the organic modifier, 12-aminolauric acid, is intercalated between clay sheets with hydrogen bonds and ionic interactions generated by end functional groups of organic modifier with surface oxygen of interlayer clay sheets
Summary
Polymer clay nanocomposites (PCNs) are widely researched material systems for wide variety of applications in industry because of enhanced mechanical, thermal, optical, and barrier properties. PCNs are categorized as intercalated or exfoliated and are typically synthesized by adding small amount (about 1–9% of weight polymer) [1, 2] of organically modified nanosized expansive clay. Addition of organically modified clay enhances the mechanical properties [3], thermal properties [4,5,6], and barrier properties [4, 6,7,8,9] of polymer clay nanocomposites. The organic modifier, which is used to modify the clay, has a significant influence on crystallinity of polymer and elastic modulus of PCNs [11]. We present the results of experimental and quantitative modeling studies on PCN with two different polymers, Nylon and Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT), and same organic modifier, and nano clay
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