TITLE:
Effects of Synthetic and Processing Methods on Dispersion Characteristics of Nanoclay in Polypropylene Polymer Matrix Composites
AUTHORS:
Turup Pandurangan Mohan, Krishnan Kanny
KEYWORDS:
Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites, Nanocomposites, Nanoclays, Polypropylene, Mechanical Properties
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.2 No.7,
July
29,
2011
ABSTRACT: This work presents the effect of synthetic procedures (extrusion and casting) on the dispersion characteristics of nano layered silicate clay particles in the polypropylene (PP) polymer matrix. Three different molecular weights PP samples are taken and filled with nanoclay of 1 wt% and 3 wt%, and these nanocomposites were synthesized by using an extrusion or casting methods. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is used to characterize the structure and morphology of nanocomposites. Rheological and mechanical results show that the extruded products are better than that of cast products. The outcome of this work is discussed in this paper.