Grafting of bentonite with a functional silane via different reaction strategies

ROMINA OLLIER; DAVID A. D'AMICO; WALTER F. SCHROEDER; VERA A. ALVAREZ; VIVIANA P. CYRAS

Rio de Janeiro

Conferencia; XV International Clay Conference; 2013

International Association for the Study of Clays (AIPEA), y Sociedade Brasileira de Geoquímica

The main objective of the present work was to study the effect of chemical modifications (cation exchange, grafting and activation) of bentonite (Bent) in order to improve the compatibility with polymeric matrices for the future development of nanocomposites with optimized final properties for several applications. The clay employed in this work was a bentonite supplied by Minarmco S.A. (Neuquén, Argentina). The organic modifiers were dimethyloctadecylchlorosilane (DMOCS) and tributylhexadecylphosphonium bromide (TBHP). One single step and multi-step modifications were performed: cation exchange (E), activation (A) and grafting (G) and the effect of each treatment was analyzed. All modified bentonites were characterized by means of X-rays diffraction analysis (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and water absorption tests.