Polymer nanocomposites melt compounding

For bulk materials, Jin et al fabricated poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)/MWNT nanocomposites by melt mixing. MWNTs were well dispersed in the matrix [90]. Melt compounding is also widely used for the fabrication of composite fibers. Sandler et al mixed polyamide-12 pellets and CNTs in a twin-screw micro-extruder and then the extrudate was chopped and fed into a capillary rheometer with 1 mm die. The CNTs in the spun fibers were uniformly dispersed [91]. Not only can thermoplastic polymers be melt-compounded, polyimide, a thermoset plastic, can be also prepared by mixing the imide oligomer at 320 °C on a steel plate and then cured at 370°C. It was found that the dispersion of CNTs in... 

Usually, only intercalated structures with low poly(styrene sulfonate), poly(vinyl sulfonate), poly(acrylic acid), poly(ethylene oxide), and dioctyl sulfosuccinate LDH nanocomposites.Thermoplastic nanocomposites based on LDH are usually prepared by solution intercalation or in situ polymerization. In our previous work we showed that it is also possible to get delamination of LDH in thermoplastic polymers by melt compounding when a suitable inter-or intralayer composition of LDH and proper processing conditions are selected. ... 

Melt processing is a common alternative that is particularly useful for dealing with thermoplastic polymers and holds great interest because of the ease with which the process could be scaled up to industrial standards. Thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposites can be fabricated by melt compounding of CNTs with polymer resin. Melt processing makes use of the fact that thermoplastic polymers soften when heated. Amorphous polymers like elastomer... 

Polymer clay nanocomposites have, for some time now, been the subject of extensive research into improving the properties of various matrices and clay types. It has been shown repeatedly that with the addition of organically modified clay to a polymer matrix, either in-situ (1) or by melt compounding (2), exfoliation of the clay platelets leads to vast improvements in fire retardation (2), gas barrier (4) and mechanical properties (5, 6) of nanocomposite materials, without significant increases in density or brittleness (7). There have been some studies on the effect of clay modification and melt processing conditions on the exfoliation in these nanocomposites as well as various studies focusing on their crystallisation behaviour (7-10). Polyamide-6 (PA-6)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites are the most widely studied polymer/clay system, however a systematic study relating the structure of the clay modification cation to the properties of the composite has yet to be reported. 

L. Incamato, P. Scarfato, G. M. Russo, L. Di Maio, P. lannelli, and D. Aciemo. Preparation and characterization of new melt compounded copolyamide nanocomposites. Polymer, 44(16) 4625-4634, July 2003. 

Mohanty, S., and Nayak, S. K., Effect of clay exfoliation and organic modification on morphological, dynamic mechanical, and thermal behaviour of melt-compounded polyamide-6 nanocomposites, Polym. Compos., 28, 153-162 (2007). 

Incamato, L., Scarfato, R, Scatteia, L., and Aciemo, D., Rheological behavior of new melt compounded copolyamide nanocomposites. Polymer, 45, 3487-3496 (2004). 

Lee, S. H., Cho, E., and Youn, J. R., Rheological behavior of polypropylene/layered silicate nanocomposites prepared by melt compounding in shear and elongational flows, J. Appl. Polym. Sci, 103, 3506-3515 (2006). 

Wang, Y., Chen, F. -B., Wu, K. -C., and Wang, J. -C., Shear rheology and melt compounding of compatibilized-polypropylene nanocomposites effect of compatibilizer molecular weight, Polym. Eng. ScL, 46, 289-302 (2006a). 

Pluta, M. Melt compounding of polylactide/organoclay Structure and properties of nanocomposites. J. Polym. Sci., Part B Polym. Phys. 44, 3392-3405 (2006)... 

The synthesis of polymer nanocomposites is an integral aspect of polymer nanotechnology. By inserting the nanometric inorganic compounds, the properties of polymers improve and hence this has a lot of applications depending upon the inorganic material present in the polymers. The improvements obtained in day/PP nanocomposite structure can make this commercial thermoplastic polymer more suitable for automotive, construction and packaging applications. Different alkyl ammonium surfactants and compatibilizer was used to produce layered silicate/PP nanocomposites by the same melt intercalation technique. 

Polymer nanocomposites are generally prepared by three methods solution intercalation, in-situ polymerisation or melt compounding. 

Zhao, Y. Huang, H. (2008) Dynamic rheology and microstructure of polypropylene/ clay nanocomposites prepared under SC-CO2 by melt compounding. Polym. Test. Vol.27, No.l, pp.129-134... 

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