Assessment of rheological and mechanical properties of nanostructured materials based on thermoplastic olefin blend and organoclay

This work aims to assess rheological and mechanical properties of thermoplastic olefin (TPO) nanocomposites reinforced by organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT). In this regard, TPO/OMMT nanocomposites were produced via melt compounding and characterized in terms of OMMT content and processing parameters. The main objective of the work is to determine the optimum OMMT content and processing parameters. Both dynamic oscillatory and steady shear measurements revealed that a very good degree of OMMT dispersion occurs in the case of nanocomposite containing 3 wt.% OMMT which was also verified by X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. Mechanical properties were studied through tensile and impact tests. It was found that as the OMMT content increases, tensile modulus and tensile strength are increased but impact strength is reduced. The optimum properties were observed at 3 wt.% OMMT which is in conformity with the rheological analysis results. As the main processing variables in melt compounding, the effect of mixing time and rotor speed on mechanical properties of TPO nanocomposites were studied and correlated to their rheological properties. It was concluded that using an intermediate mixing time and rotor speed would be more appropriate to achieve desirable mechanical properties.