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The critical organic modifier aliphatic tail length for the formation of poly(methyl methacrylate)‐montmorillonite nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Tiwari Rajkiran R.,
Natarajan Upendra
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.25405
Subject(s) - materials science , nanocomposite , organoclay , differential scanning calorimetry , glass transition , ultimate tensile strength , alkyl , montmorillonite , poly(methyl methacrylate) , methyl methacrylate , composite material , polymer , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , copolymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering , physics , thermodynamics
In this article, we report the influence of organic modifier structure (alkyl chain length C8‐C20, single vs ditallow) and thereby, the effect of hydrophobicity on the structure, thermal and mechanical properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)‐clay hybrids. Melt processed PMMA‐clay hybrids were characterized using wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. The organoclays having an alkyl chain length of more than 12 CH 2 groups resulted in the formation of nanocomposites. The glass transition temperature ( T g ) of PMMA increased in the presence of clay. The mean‐field lattice model was used to predict the free energy for nanocomposite formation, which showed a reasonable match with the experimental results and provided a general guideline for the proper selection of polymer and organoclay (ie, organic modifier) to obtain nanocomposite. Tensile modulus showed maximum improvement of 58% for the nanocomposites compared to 9% improvement for the composites. Tensile modulus increased with increases in the alkyl chain length of the organic modifier and clay loading. The level of improvement for the tensile properties of nanocomposites prepared from primary and secondary ammonium‐modified clay is the same as that obtained with the commercial organoclays.