Polypropylene/Clay Nanocomposites: An Innovative One-Pot Process

This work discloses a novel one-pot preparation method of polypropylene (PP)/clay nanocomposites with high degree of clay delamination and improved thermal, mechanical and rheological properties. The in situ simultaneous synthesis of carboxylate clay from native clay and ionomer of PP-graft maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) through trihydrate sodium acetate addition, combined with water injection in the extrusion process, appears to be a valuable alternative to the use of organoclay for producing PP/PP-g-MA/clay nanocomposites. The influence of PP-g-MA graft content, and of its ionomer form, onto the clay dispersion has been especially investigated. PP-g-MA of low graft content is compared to a home-made highly grafted PP-g-MA synthesized in the presence of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS). The nanocomposites prepared by combining the use of NBS-mediated PP-g-MA, trihydrate sodium acetate and water injection exhibit the highest clay dispersion. Thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites have been measured. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:644-650, 2015. (c) 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers