Biodegradable polymer nanocomposite silicates

Intercalation/exfoliation of biodegradable polymer macromolecules in layered hosts, such as layered silicates, has been proved as an effective method to synthesize polymer layered silicate nanocomposites. Methods like solution intercalation, in-situ synthesis and melt intercalation have emerged as successful methods to prepare biodegradable polymer layered silicate nanocomposites. 

M. Okamoto, S. Mallapragada, B. Narasimhan, Biodegradable polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites a review. Handbook of Biodegradable Polymeric Materials and Their Applications, American Scientibc Publishers, Valencia, California, Vol. 1, 2005, pp. 1 5. 

This chapter highlights the major developments in this area during the last decade. The various techniques used to prepare biodegradable polymers/layered silicate nanocomposites, their physicochemical characterization, and the unproved mechanical and materials properties, their biodegradabiUty, processing, and future prospect of biodegradable nanocomposites will be discussed. 

The tensile modulus of a polymeric material has been shown to be remarkably improved when nanocomposites are formed with layered silicates. In the case of biodegradable polymer nanocomposites, most studies report the tensile properties as a function of clay content. In most conventionally filled polymer systems, the modulus increases linearly with the filler volume fraction, whereas for these nanoparticles much lower filler concentrations increase the modulus sharply and to a much larger extent. The dramatic enhancement of the modulus... 

Ray, S.S. and Bousmina, M. 2005. Biodegradable polymers and their layered silicate nanocomposites In greening the 21 century materials world. Progress in Materials Science 50 962-1079. 

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