Intercalation of Polymer or Prepolymer from Solution

Similar behaviors were observed for poly(butyl methacrylate) latexes. The morphology of the polymer nanocomposites formed was observed to be exfoliated. The nanocomposites were also prepared with umnodified montmorillonites and the dispersion of the filler was observed to be poorer as compared with the nanocomposites prepared with the modified clays. 

The adhesive properties of the pressure-sensitive adhesive formulations were observed to be strongly influenced by the presence of clay. On using the modified montmorillonites, the peel strength and tack were reported to decrease with increasing clay content, whereas the shear strength of the composites increased. On using the unmodified clay, only a moderate effect on these properties was observed. An increase in the storage modulus was observed on 

The use of a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-con-trolled polymerization method to synthesize polystyrene-clay nanocomposites in miniemulsion was reported by Samakande et For this purpose, the RAFT-grafted montmorillonite clays A,A-dimethyl-A-(4- [(phenylcarbonothioyl)thio]-methyl benzyl)ethanammonium-MMT (PCDBAB-MMT) and A-[4-( [(dodecyl-thio)carbonothioyl]thio methyl)benzyl]-A,A-dimethylethanammonium-MMT (DCTBAB-MMT), were used in different amounts. 

Greesh et al described an interesting study on the effect of clay surface modification on the microstructure and properties of polymer-clay nanocomposites synthesized by using free radical emulsion polymerization. Copolymers of styrene and butyl acrylate were synthesized in the presence of montmorillonites modified with various surface modifiers in order to relate their chemical structure, degree of interaction within the clay gallery surface 

Yei et al7 described the synthesis of polystyrene-clay nanocomposites using emulsion polymerization and specifically modified montmorillonite. Two different surface modifications were used to organophilize the montmorillonite, with cetylpyridinium chloride (CPQ and the CPC-a-cyclodextrin (CD) inclusion complex. Glass transition temperatures of 102 and 106 °C were observed for CPC-clay and inclusion complex lay nanocomposites, compared with 100 °C for pure polystyrene. 

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