Silicate nanoclay

Early development work on nanocomposites employed polar polymers such as the polyamides and epoxy resins because they are readily compatible with montmorillonite and similar silicate nanoclays. However, polypropylene can be compatibilised by reacting it with maleic anhydride, and nanoclays can be treated to make them compatible with nonpolar polymers. 

Reinforcement in a polyurea matrix by three different nanofiUers (multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), nanolayered silicate (nanoclay) and trisilanolphenyl-functionalized POSS was investigated by Casalini et al. [49], The effects of the nanofiller are summarized in the Table 1 (Reprinted from [49]). 

Carbon black is reinforced in polymer and mbber engineering as filler since many decades. Automotive and tmck tires are the best examples of exploitation of carbon black in mbber components. Wu and Wang [28] studied that the interaction between carbon black and mbber macromolecules is better than that of nanoclay and mbber macromolecules, the bound mbber content of SBR-clay nanocompound with 30 phr is still of high interest. This could be ascribed to the huge surface area of clay dispersed at nanometer level and the largest aspect ratio of silicate layers, which result in the increased silicate layer networking [29-32]. 

Figure 7 shows the representative bright field HRTEM images of nanocomposites of NR and unmodified montmorillonite (NR/NA) prepared by different processing and curing techniques. It is apparent that the methodology followed to prepare the nanocomposites by latex blending facilitates the formation of exfoliated clay structure, even with unmodified nanoclays. It has been reported in the literature that hydration of montmorillonite clay leads to extensive delamination and breakdown of silicate layers [94, 95]. It has also been shown that NA disperses fully into the individual layers in its dilute aqueous dispersion (clay concentration <10%)... 

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