Rheological Characterization of Polypropylene/Clay Nanocompisites

C.O. ROHLMANN; M. D. FAILLA; L.M. QUINZANI

Río de Janeiro, Brasil

Congreso; 41 th. International Symposium on Macromolecules (Macro 2006) y Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros (SLAP?2006); 2006

Polypropylene-clay composites were prepared by melt mixing in a thermoplastic mixer. A polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride was added as compatibilizer to improve the interaction between the clay and PP matrix. Different concentrations of organically modified clay and compatibilizer were employed to investigate the relationship between the structural characteristics of the composites and their properties. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the clays and the morphology of the composites. The dynamic moduli of the composites were obtained in a dynamic rotational rheometer as a function of temperature and frequency. Our mayor interest was focused on the effect of temperature on the lineal rheological behavior of the composites. The obtained results showed that the elastic modulus of the composites were, in general, larger than that of polypropylene and an increase of the modulus was observed at low frequencies as the temperature increases.