Polypropylene Nanocomposites Produced by In-situ Grafting of N-butyl Acrylate

JULIE MERCHAN SANDOVAL; LIDIA MARIA QUINZANI; MARCELO DANIEL FAILLA

JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE

JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015 vol. 132 p. 1 - 10

0021-8995

Resumen: Nanocomposites ofpolypropylene and organophilic clay are produced by in situ functionalization of PP with n-butyl acrylate (BA) duringmelt mixing.  Three strategies for incorporating materials into the mixer are analyzed and the effect of clay concentration is evaluated. The materials are examined by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry,thermogravimetry and rotational reometry. The results show that all composites prepared in the presence of BA have similar intercalated clay structure, andthat the largest degree of exfoliation is obtained using the sequential mixingtechnique.  This method, which consits inadding the initiator and functionalizing agent to the molten polypropylenefollowed by the addition of the clay, also produces the largest reduction inmolecular weight of the polymer and the largest increase of the elastic modulus.  All polymers show similarcrystallization and degradation processes.