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Nanocomposites based on poly(ϵ‐caprolactone) and the montmorillonite treated with dibutylamine‐terminated ϵ‐caprolactone oligomer
Author(s) -
Shibata Mitsuhiro,
Teramoto Naozumi,
Someya Yoshihiro,
Tsukao Reiji
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.25903
Subject(s) - caprolactone , materials science , montmorillonite , oligomer , exfoliation joint , polymer chemistry , nanocomposite , polymerization , ultimate tensile strength , composite material , polymer , graphene , nanotechnology
Dibutylamine‐terminated ε‐caprolactone oligomers (CLOs: CLOL, CLOM, and CLOH) with number–averaged molecular weight ( M n ), 500, 1300, and 2200, respectively, were synthesized by the ring‐opening polymerization of ε‐caprolactone initiated by 2‐(dibutylamino)ethanol in the presence of tin(II) 2‐ethylhexanoate. Nanocomposites based on poly(ε‐caploractone) (PCL) and the caprolactone oligomer‐treated montmorillonites (CLO‐Ms: CLOL‐M, CLOM‐M, and CLOH‐M) were prepared by melt intercalation method. The XRD and TEM analyses of the PCL composites revealed that the extent of exfoliation of the clay platelets increased with increasing molecular weight of the used CLOs. Tensile strength and modulus of the PCL/CLO‐M composites increased with increasing molecular weight of the CLO and increasing inorganic content. The tensile modulus of the PCL/CLOH‐M nanocomposite with inorganic content 5.0 wt % was three times higher than that of control PCL. Among the PCL/CLO‐M composites, the PCL/CLOM‐M composite had the highest crystallization temperature and melting temperature. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007