Polypropylene/montmorillonite nanocomposites - I. Preparation, characterisation and dynamic mechanical properties

In recent years,the hybrids based on organic polymers and inorganic clay minerals consisting of layered silicates have attracted great interest from both scientific and industry fields, since they exhibit dramatic increases in their mechanical and thermal properties synergistically derived from the two components. In this paper the in-situ graft-intercalation method has been introduced successfully in preparing polypropylene/montmorillonite nanocomposites (PPMNC). The spaces of silicate layers of montmorillonite in the composites were investigated by using X-ray diffractometer. It was found that the space of the layers increased form 1.9nm up to about 4nm. The dynamic mechanical properties of PPMNCs were also studied. The results showed that the dynamic storage modulus of PPMNCs was higher than that of PP, as high as 2 times, especially at temperatures above 80 degrees C.