Characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)/acrylamide/alkylammonium montmorillonite clay nanocomposites prepared by electron beam irradiation

In this work, electron beam radiation was used to form nanocomposite gels based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), acrylamide (AAm), and alkylammonium montmorillonite organo-clay (S-MMT) in the form of films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements indicated that the organo-clay was aggregated and dispersed in the polymer matrix to form a nanocomposite structure. The results indicated that the introduction of S-MMT clay up to 5% ratio decreased the gel content of PVA/AAm hydrogels; however, it improved the thermal stability to a great extent. The swelling was found to depend on the ratios of AAm in the initial gel composition and irradiation dose. Both PVA/AAm hydrogels and PVA/AAm/S-MMT nanocomposites reached the equilibrium swelling state in water after four hours; however, PVA/AM/S-MMT nanocomposites displayed higher swelling than PVA/AAm gels as demonstrated by applying Fick's law of diffusion. In addition, the equilibrium swelling of PVA/AAm gels and their nanocomposites increased with increasing temperature up to 60 degrees C.