POLYMER CLAY NANOCOMPOSITES WITH IMPROVED MELT STRENGTH

摘要

Melt strength or strain hardening of the melt in elongational flow is important for a variety of polymer processing operations. The effect of varying surface treatment on the montmorillonite was investigated in composites prepared with 5 wt% of differently treated clays and a functionalized polypropylene alone as the matrix. The strain hardening behavior in extensional flow was evaluated with the EVF attachment on the TA-ARES rheometer. While the dispersion was better with the primary amine treated montmorillonite, the nanocomposite with the two alkyl tail quaternary ammonium ion showed dramatically improved strain hardening.