Direct polymer intercalation, advantages

This technique is highly suitable for producing thermoplastic polymer nanocomposites in large scale. There are many advantages with direct melt intercalation over solution intercalation. For example, direct melt intercalation is highly specific for the polymer, leading to the formation of new hybrids. In addition, the absence of a solvent makes direct melt intercalation an environmentally sound and economically favorable method for industries [11]. 

The direct melt blending process display the great advantage of processing ease but the major drawback is the sometimes-observed difficulty to intercalate preformed long polymer chains in clays displaying a poor compatibility with the matrix. Thus, the easier intercalation of the monomer could be used as the first step of an alternative process followed by the in-situ polymerization of the monomer in between the silicate platelets. 

Nanometer-scale composites prepared from layered inorganic materials, especially clay, and polymers have also attracted much attention because of their unique optical, thermal, mechanical, gas barrier, and electrical properties. There are many reports describing polymer-clay nanocomposites. " The clay can be, for example, a sihca or silicate. In such a hybrid composite, weak dipolar and van der Waals forces provide the driving force for interactions between the layers, and they result in galleries being formed. There are three types of clay-polymer composites conventional, intercalated, and exfohated. Three mediods are widely used for the preparation of polymer-clay hybrid nanocomposites intercalation by in situ polymerization, direct intercalation, and polymer melt intercalation. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, the in situ polymerization works only in tiie... 

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