Effects of Clay and POSS Nanoparticles on the Quiescent and Shear-Induced Crystallization Behavior of High Molecular Weight Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

The effects of organoclay and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) nanoparticles on the crystallization behavior of high molecular weight poly(ethylene terephthalate) (HMWPET; inherent viscosity of 1.05) were investigated in terms of nanoparticle content and shear rate. Both nanoparticles played a role of nucleating agent for PET and increased the cold crystallization temperature by about 24 degrees C. The half-time of crystallization was also decreased with increasing the nanoparticle content. Clay proved to be more effective than POSS; a notable nucleating effect was observed at 0.3 wt% for clay and 2 wt% for POSS. Introducing 1 wt% of clay gave the highest crystallization rate among all PET nanocomposite samples examined. Isothermal crystallization of the nanocomposites under dynamic shear exhibited similar crystallization behavior. As in the DSC measurement, clay appeared to be more effective to promote the crystallization of PET under shear. The nucleating effects were more noticeable at higher shear rate. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 49:317-323, 2009. (C) 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers