POLYMER-LAYERED NANOCOMPOSITES BASED ON VERMICULITE /PDMS

ELEONORA ERDAMNN; MARIA ANTONIA TORO; DELICIA ACOSTA; HUGO DESTEFANIS

Seoul-Korea

Congreso; ICOM 2005. International Congress on Membrane Process 2005.; 2005

The Aseanian Membrane Society. The Membrane Society of Korea

In recent years polymer / l ayered silicate nanocomposi te have attracted greatinteres t in indus t ry and science because they often exhibit remarkable improvement in materials proper t ies when compared whit virgin polymer or conventional micro and macrocompos i tes [1] The enhanced proper t ies are presumably due to the nanoscale structure effects and the interaction between the organic and inorganic materials [2]. Then there are very recent development s in syntheses, proper ties and (future) applications of polymer - layered silicate nanocompos i tes. This new type of materials, based on layered silicates usually rendered hydrophobic through ionic exchange of the sodium or potas sium interlayer cation with ammonium cation, may be prepared via various synthetic routes comprising exfoliation adsorption, in situ intercalative polymerizat ion and melt intercalation [3]. In their pristine form of layered silicates are hydrophilic in nature, and this proper ty makes then very difficult to disper se into a polymer matrix. The mos t common way to remove this difficulty is to replace interlayer cations by ion- exchange reactions with cationic surfactant s including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary alkylammonium or alkylphosphonium cations, preferably with long alkyl chains. [1,4] We presently in this work the preparation of a nanocomposi te from vermiculite modified and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The target is to modify gas barrier proper ties to hydrocarbon of high densi ty polyethylene (HDPE) without modifying mechanical properties. Vermiculte is a member of the philosilicate group of minerals, resembling mica in appareance. It is found in various parts of the world included Salta (Argentina).