Tailored Nanocomposites of Polypropylene with Layered Silicates

The melt rheological properties of layered silicate nanocomposites with maleic anhydride (MA) functionalized polypropylene are contrasted to those based on ammonium-terminated polypropylene. While the MA functionalized PP based nanocomposites exhibit solid-like linear viscoelastic behavior, consistent with the formation of a long-lived percolated nanoparticle network, the single-end ammonium functionalized PP based nanocomposites demonstrated liquid-like behavior at comparable montmorillonite concentrations. The differences in the linear viscoelasticity are attributed to the presence of bridging interactions in MA functionalized nanocomposites. Further, the transient shear stress of the MA functionalized nanocomposites in start-up of steady shear is a function of the shear strain alone, and the steady shear response is consistent with that of non-Brownian systems. The weak dependence of the steady first normal stress difference on the steady shear stress suggests that the polymer chain mediated silicate network contributes to such unique flow behavior.