THE RELATIONS BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLY(BUTYLENE SUCCINATE-CO-ADIPATE)/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITES
Suprakas Sinha Ray and Mosto Bousmina*
Department
of Chemical Engineering (CREPEC),
ABSTRACT
Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate)
(PBSA)/layered silicate nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing of PBSA
and three different types of commercially available organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT). Using three types of OMMT, the effect
of organic modification in nanocomposites was investigated by focusing on two
major aspects: morphological study and property measurements. X-ray diffraction
(XRD) patterns revealed that increasing the level of interactions (miscibility)
between the organic modifier and PBSA matrix increases the tendency of the
silicate layers to delaminate and distributed nicely within the PBSA matrix.
Transmission electron micrographic (TEM) observations showed that the
dispersion of silicate layers in PBSA matrix is well matched with the XRD
patterns. Dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile property measurements
revealed concurrent improvement in mechanical properties when compared to the
neat PBSA and the extent of improvement is directly related to the extent of delamination
of silicate layers in the PBSA matrix.
Key Words: poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate); nanocomposites; properties