Nanostructure and thermal properties of melt compounded PE/clay nanocomposites filled with an organosilylated montmorillonite

Journal Article · Thu Dec 17 04:00:00 EST 2015 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4937325· OSTI ID:22494367

Scarfato, Paola ^[1]; Incarnato, Loredana; Di Maio, Luciano ^[1]; Dittrich, Bettina; Niebergall, Ute; Böhning, Martin; Schartel, Bernhard ^[2]

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1. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno Via Giovanni Paolo II 132 – 84084 Fisciano (Italy)
2. BAM - Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, 7.5 Technical Properties of Polymeric Materials, Unter den Eichen 87 - 12205 Berlin (Germany)

In this work we report on the functionalization of a natural sodium montmorillonite (MMT) with (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane by a silylation procedure and on its use as nanofiller in melt compounding of polyethylene nanocomposites. The obtained organosilylated clay showed higher interlayer spacing than the original MMT and higher thermal stability with respect to most of commercial organoclays modified with alkylammonium salts. Its addition (at 5wt%) to two different polyethylene matrices (a low density polyethylene, LDPE, and a high density polyethylene, HDPE), processed in a pilot-scale twin-screw extruder, allowed to produce hybrids with nanoscale dispersion of the filler, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction. Thermogravimetric and differential scanning thermal analyses point out that the obtained nanocomposites do not show noticeable changes in the thermal behavior of both LDPE and HDPE, even if a slight reduction in the overall bulk crystallinity was observed in presence of the nanofillers.

• OSTI ID: 22494367
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1695; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
DIFFERENTIAL THERMAL ANALYSIS
MONTMORILLONITE
NANOCOMPOSITES
NANOSTRUCTURES
POLYETHYLENES
SALTS
SILANES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
THERMAL GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION