A rheological study on kinetics of poly(butylene terephthalate) melt intercalation

A multilayered sample with alternatively superposed poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) and nonpolar polymer/clay sheets was elaborately prepared to investigate the whole hybridization process of polar polymer. The kinetics of PBT melt intercalation was studied by a rheological approach. The whole intercalation process was demonstrated by the changes of the low-frequencies viscoelastic response with annealing time. The results of the apparent diffusivities and the calculated activation energy indicate that the PBT/clay hybrid formation presents a molecular weight dependence, which may result from the enhancement of interactions between polar groups on PBT chains and the silicate surface. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.