Processing, Properties, and Applications of Polymer Nanocomposites Based on Layer Silicates: A Review

The nanocomposites are materials, which involve fillers in the nanometer scale, yielding substantial improvements. Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites have received much attention during the past decade and have great interest both in the academic field and in industry, since they often give more attractive improvement to material properties than both micro- and macrocomposite materials. This extensive review presents recent studies in polymer nanocomposites based on layered silicate. The background, morphology, preparations, and properties of these materials are discussed. The review covers and discusses various modern methods and equipments in the preparation of nanocomposites, deeply focusing on the morphology of nanocomposites and its effects on the overall properties. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Technol 2013, 32, 21368; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.21368