TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of Nanofillers Based on Cetyltrimethylammonium-Modified Clays in a Polypropylene Nanocomposite
AU - Ryu, Hyeon Ju
AU - Hang, Nguyen Thu
AU - Rejinold. N, Sanoj
AU - Jeong, Byeongmoon
AU - Choi, Goeun
AU - Choy, Jin Ho
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (No. 10080375) and under the framework of the international cooperation program managed by the National Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2017K2A9A2A10013104).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Nanocomposites of hydrophobic organo-clay/polypropylene (organo-clay/PP) were efficiently developed through a solution-blending technique. For this, we utilized various smectite clays as host agents; namely, Na-montmorillonite (Mt, ~1000 nm), Na-fluorine mica (Mica, ~1500 nm), and Na-hectorite (Ht, ~60 nm) with varied sizes, layer charges, and aspect ratios. Such clays were functionalized with cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA) bromide via an intercalation technique to obtain hydrophobic organic clays. The as-made clay particles were further mixed with a PP/xylene solution; the latter was removed to obtain the final product of the CTA-clay/PP nanocomposite. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that there were no characteristic (001) diffraction peaks for CTA-Mica in the PP nanocomposites containing CTA-Mica, assuring the fact that the Mica layers could be completely exfoliated and thereby homogenously composited within the PP. On the other hand, the CTA-Mt and CTA-Ht incorporated composites had broader (001) peaks, which might have been due to the partial exfoliation of CTA-Mt and CTA-Ht in the composites. Among the three CTA-clay/PP nanocomposites, the CTA-Mica nanohybrid showed an enhanced thermal stability by ~42 °C compared to the intact host polymer matrix. We also noted that when the CTA-Mica content was ~9 mass % in the nanocomposites, the Young’s modulus was drastically maximized to 69%. Our preliminary results therefore validated that out of the three tested clay-PP nanocomposites, the CTA-Mica nanofiller served as the best one to improve both the thermal and mechanical properties of the PP nanocomposites.
AB - Nanocomposites of hydrophobic organo-clay/polypropylene (organo-clay/PP) were efficiently developed through a solution-blending technique. For this, we utilized various smectite clays as host agents; namely, Na-montmorillonite (Mt, ~1000 nm), Na-fluorine mica (Mica, ~1500 nm), and Na-hectorite (Ht, ~60 nm) with varied sizes, layer charges, and aspect ratios. Such clays were functionalized with cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA) bromide via an intercalation technique to obtain hydrophobic organic clays. The as-made clay particles were further mixed with a PP/xylene solution; the latter was removed to obtain the final product of the CTA-clay/PP nanocomposite. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that there were no characteristic (001) diffraction peaks for CTA-Mica in the PP nanocomposites containing CTA-Mica, assuring the fact that the Mica layers could be completely exfoliated and thereby homogenously composited within the PP. On the other hand, the CTA-Mt and CTA-Ht incorporated composites had broader (001) peaks, which might have been due to the partial exfoliation of CTA-Mt and CTA-Ht in the composites. Among the three CTA-clay/PP nanocomposites, the CTA-Mica nanohybrid showed an enhanced thermal stability by ~42 °C compared to the intact host polymer matrix. We also noted that when the CTA-Mica content was ~9 mass % in the nanocomposites, the Young’s modulus was drastically maximized to 69%. Our preliminary results therefore validated that out of the three tested clay-PP nanocomposites, the CTA-Mica nanofiller served as the best one to improve both the thermal and mechanical properties of the PP nanocomposites.
KW - mechanical strength
KW - nanocomposites
KW - organo-clay
KW - polypropylene
KW - thermal stability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139879305&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym14194110
DO - 10.3390/polym14194110
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85139879305
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 14
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 19
M1 - 4110
ER -