Creep behaviour of PCL/clay nanocomposites

LEANDRO LUDUEÑA; ANALÍA VÁZQUEZ; VERA ALVAREZ

San Nicolás

Congreso; SAM/CONAMET 2007; 2007

The creep behaviour of polycaprolactone/clay nanocomposites prepared by melt intercalation was studied. The effect of type of clay, clay content and temperature was also analyzed. Experimental results were correlated with several models. The Kelvin-Voight model (4 parameters) was used to establish a correlation between the creep behaviour and the nanocomposite morphology. The power law model was also used. Both, experimental curves and models demonstrated that the incorporation of the clay produces a significant improvement on the creep resistance with respect to the neat matrix. This improvement was even more important for higher clay content and high polymer/clay compatibility. Otherwise, a lower temperature reduced the capacity of deformation under constant load of the materials.