Barrier and mechanical properties of injection molded montmorillonite/polyesterarnide nanocomposites

Properties of injection-molded biodegradable polyester-amide composites containing 5 and 13 wt% octadecylammonium-treated montmorillonite clay have been studied. Oxygen transmission rates and mechanical properties were measured. X-ray diffraction was used to assess the degree of intercalation of the clay layer stacks, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to assess the morphology and degree of layer delamination. A substantial reduction in oxygen permeability was observed when clay was added to the composites. The oxygen permeability of the 13 wt% clay sample was only 20% of that of the pure polymer. The in-plane stiffness and in-plane strength of the sheets were greatly improved without any embrittlement. These beneficial effects were probably due to the high degree of clay layer exfoliation and orientation observed by TEM. Heat shrinkage, toughness analysis, and cutting operations suggested that the polymer chains and the clay layers were oriented parallel to the plane of the sheet. TEM and X-ray showed that stacked layers were still present but that these were significantly intercalated. The clay-layer periodic spacing increased from 25 Angstrom to approximately 35 Angstrom during processing. (C) 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.