Understanding Morphology and Its Characterization in Polymer Nanocomposites

In exfoliated nanocomposites, delaminated structures are obtained if a large number of polymer chains are present between the layers and the layers stand 10 nm apart. Thus, the interlayer expansion is comparable to the radius of gyration of the polymer rather than that of an extended chain, as in the case of intercalated hybrids [35]. 

When the polymer is unable to intercalate between the lamella (for example, in silicate sheets) a phase-separated (aggregated) composite is obtained, whose properties are in the same range as for traditional microcomposites. The two types of lamellar PNCs are depicted in Fig. 1. 

The exfoliation or delamination configuration is of particular interest because it maximizes the polymer-clay interactions, making the entire surface of layers available for a polymer, and thereby yields better properties than intercalated ones. 

2 Influence of Mean-Field-Lattice-Based Theory on the 

Choudhury et al. [36] in their work on hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR)-nanoclay systems showed the thermodynamic aspects of nanocomposite formation using the mean-field-lattice-based description of polymer melt intercalation, which was first proposed by Vaia and Giannelis [37]. Briefly, the free 

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