Natural rubber nanocomposites exfoliated nanocomposite

Some may use the combined latex compounding and melt mixing approach to produce natural rubber nanocomposites. For instance, natural rubber/Ca-montmorillonite (Ca-MMT) nanocomposites with well exfoliated Ca-MMT were prepared by a combination of latex compounding and melt mixing. Firstly, a high Ca-MMT content masterbatch was co-coagulated by natural... 

The effect of polymer-filler interaction on solvent swelling and dynamic mechanical properties of the sol-gel-derived acrylic rubber (ACM)/silica, epoxi-dized natural rubber (ENR)/silica, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/silica hybrid nanocomposites was described by Bandyopadhyay et al. [27]. Theoretical delineation of the reinforcing mechanism of polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites has been attempted by some authors while studying the micromechanics of the intercalated or exfoliated PNCs [28-31]. Wu et al. [32] verified the modulus reinforcement of rubber/clay nanocomposites using composite theories based on Guth, Halpin-Tsai, and the modified Halpin-Tsai equations. On introduction of a modulus reduction factor (MRF) for the platelet-like fillers, the predicted moduli were found to be closer to the experimental measurements. 

Mondragon et al. [250] used unmodified and modified natural mbber latex (uNRL and mNRL) to prepare thermoplastic starch/natural rubber/montmorillonite type clay (TPS/NR/Na+-MMT) nanocomposites by twin-screw extrusion. Transmission electron microscopy showed that clay nanoparticles were preferentially intercalated into the mbber phase. Elastic modulus and tensile strength of TPS/NR blends were dramatically improved as a result of mbber modification. Properties of blends were almost unaffected by the dispersion of the clay except for the TPS/ mNR blend loading 2 % MMT. This was attributed to the exfoliation of the MMT. 

An alternative method of producing natural rubber based clay reinforced nanocomposites with outstanding properties is by using a spray drying technique. In this technique the siUcate layers of clay will be well dispersed in an irradiated polymer latex and this mixture will be sprayed through hot air to produce micrometre-sized liquid droplets. When the solvent is fully evaporated, micrometre-sized polymer spheres with delaminated clay silicate layers on their surface are produced. These spheres can later be melt blended with natural rubber to produce ternary nanocomposites. It is noteworthy that exfoliation of nanofillers can still be achieved without modification of the nanofiller surface, thus the expensive modification process can be eliminated. 

It has been found that the interaction of intercalated and/or exfoliated nanoparticles may restrict the mobility of the matrix polymer chains, which lead to an increase of Tg values, as observed in nanocomposites of polyamide-12-layered silicates [102], nitrile rubber-organophilic montmorillonite [103], natural rubber-montmorillonite [104], and EVA-day [105]. A slight increase with the organosurface treatment in Tg values was noticed in poly(vinyl chloride)-clay [106,107], poly(vinyl chloride)-CNTs [108], polyurethane-montmorillonite [109-111], LLDPE-layered tetrasilisic fluoromica [112], PP-montmorillonite [113-115], PP-sUica [116], and styrene-butadiene rubber [117]. 

Unlike polymer-clay nanocomposites, in rubber-clay nanocomposites complete exfoliation of clay layers results in disappearance of the diffraction maxima in their XRD patterns. However, this can also occur due to other reasons, like extremely low concentration of clay materials in the composites, crystal defects, etc. The majority of the reports on rubber-clay nanocomposites display the intercalated or swollen nature of the clay structures. The presence of the basal reflections in the XRD patterns of such type of nanocomposites indicates that the clay crystal structure is not destroyed completely. But, shifting of their positions to lower 26 values is interpreted as an expansion of the interlayer region by the macromolecular rubber chains. Besides, broadening of the characteristic reflections in nanocomposites is often related to the defects in the crystal layer stacking caused by the interlayer polymeric species. 

Kong et al. [115] synthesized hy melt-intercalation silicone rubber (SR)/clay nanocomposites using synthetic Fe-montmoriUonite (Fe-MMT) and natural Na-MMT which were modified by cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide, surfactant. They obtained exfoliated and intercalated nanocomposites. With TGA and mechanical performance found that with the presence of iron significantiy increased the onset temperarnre of thermal degradation in SR/Fe-MMT nanocomposites. In addition, the thermal stability, gel fraction and mechanical property of SR/Fe-MMT were different from the SR/Na-MMT nanocomposites, so the iron not only in thermal degradation but also in the vulcanization process acted as an antioxidant and radicals trap. A new flame-retardant system, SR/Fe-OMT based on an EVA matrix, was examined Fang et al. [ 116]. The experimental analyses showed that the exfoliated Fe-OMT had better dispersion in the EVA matrix than Na-OMT, and it was more effective in improving... 

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