Morphological study of PVC/montmorillonite nanocomposites

Abstract

Reported nanocomposites of poly(vinyl chloride) have been prepared using bentonite-based clay, Na-montmorillonite (nature clay) and organophilic clay 30B. Na-montmorillonite is the most widely used type of silicate clay in polymer nanocomposites. It is a reinforcing material, naturally abundant, nontoxic, inexpensive, chemically and thermally stable. Polymer nanocomposites of differing compositions were produced using Buss KO-kneader via melt intercalation method. The effect of different type of plasticizer (both low molecular and high molecular) and compounding conditions on the structure of PVC/clay nanocomposites was investigated. Different compounding conditions were tested to study their influence on nanoparticles dispersion, orientation and exfoliation in PVC/clay nanocomposites. The structure of PVC/MMT nanocomposites was observed using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning elektron microscopy (SEM) and AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy). It was found that the Na-montmorillonite offer low exfoliation level, while 30B modified by plasticizer exhibits fine dispersion of partial to nearly full exfoliated MMT. Moreover the processing conditions play also important role in nanocomposite production. Financial support of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, project MSM 7088352101, is gratefully acknowledged.