The development of polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites (PNCs) includes a long list of different possible components such as polymers, nano-additives, and co-additives, together with surface chemistry and various processing conditions. This involves the investigation of a large number of parameters that influence PNC performance. Consequently, fairly extensive research and development work is necessary, and this constitutes an obstacle in the commercialization of nanotechnology. This paper, which is based on experience from research and development for an industrial application, presents a procedure composed of high throughput (HT) screening methods for speeding up the development of PNCs. Our task was to replace the existing conventional glass fibre-reinforced polypropylene (PP) used in the manufacture of pallets by a PP/montmorillonite nanocomposite. One of the most important HT tools was a 15 cm(3) laboratory-scale twin-screw microcompounder equipped with a 3.5 cm(3) shot volume injection moulder. The HT nature of the microcompounder was derived from three important abilities, namely the ability to quickly perform alterations of the formulation, to easily change the processing conditions, and to perform direct extrusion of the test samples suitable for the evaluation. Equally important was to determine the overall order and morphology of the system to provide a basic understanding of these materials and ultimately find the optimum mechanical properties. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to measure the percentage of the organic modifier in the various commercially available organoclays, as well as the decomposition temperature of the organic modifier. The shape and dispersion of clay platelets in the polymer was made visible by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM); moreover, the big advantage with this technique was the possibility to observe the compatibility between the clay particles and the polymer matrix. The improvement in flame retardancy by nanoclays was measured using a cone calorimeter, which gave valuable information about the time to flaming ignition, heat release rate, effective heat of combustion and smoke production rate.
