The use of a mixer with built-in Parshall’s venturi for modification of bentonite designed for the filling of polymer resins

Abstract

Research was carried out on modification of bentonite with the use of a mixer with built-in Parshall’s venturi. Aqueous suspensions of bentonite with a concentration of 12 % by weight were used. The advantage of using such an innovative mixer is to achieve much better results of the moving apart layers after modification, which significantly facilities the penetration of polymer chains between them. It should also be noted that the size of the tiles calculated from Scherrer’s formula did not decrease after modification with the use of a mixer with built-in Parshall’s venturi. Unfortunately, this unfavorable effect was observed for modified bentonites using an anchor mixer. Bentonites modified in this way were used to obtain composites on the epoxy resin matrix Epidian 6 with 3 wt % of their content. Mechanical properties were evaluated and a clear improvement in tensile strength, Young’s modulus and notch-free impact strength was found. It was found that the obtained mechanical test results for these composites with the addition of bentonites modified with the use of anchor stirrer are worse in comparison to composites with the addition of bentonite modified with the use of a stirrer with built-in Parshall’s venturi.