Polypropylene layered silicate morphology

Dubnikova, I. L., Berezina, S. M., Korolev, Y. M., Kim, G. M., and Lomakin, S. M. 2007. Morphology, deformation behavior and thermomechanical properties of polypropylene/maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene/layered silicate nanocomposites. 

Koo CM, Kim MJ, Choi MH, Kim SO, Chung IJ (2003) Mechanical and rheological properties of the maleated polypropylene-layered silicate nanocomposites with different morphology. J ApplPolym Sci 88(6) 1526-1535... 

Maiti P., Nam P. H., Okamoto M., Hasegawa N. and Usuki A., Influence of crystallization on intercalation, morphology, and mechanical properties of polypropylene/clay nanocomposites . Macromolecules, 2002, 35, 2042-2049. Galgah G., Ramesh C. and Lele A., Rheological study on the kinetics of hybrid formation in polypropylene nanocomposites , Macromolecules, 2001, 34, 852-858. Abranyi A., Szazdi L., Pukanszky Jr B., Vancso G. J. and Pukanszky B., Formation and detection of clay network structure in poly(propylene)/layered silicate nanocomposites , Macromol Rapid Commun, 2006, 27, 132—135. 

Finally, an oversimplified cartoon of the nanoscale morphology is presented in Fig. 5.20. It shows a rather well-developed lamellar structure in the polypropylene, and in the materials that contain MMT a distorted layer structure that is reinforced by the silicate layers depicted as thin vertical domains. 

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