Influence of processing conditions in PEA/organophilic clay nanocomposites

Polymer/clay nanocomposites have attracted great interest from the industry as well as from the researches due to the need to obtain materials with desired properties. Nanocomposites with silicates layer represent an alternative for the conventional composites because they use a small amount of nanofiller. In this work, polyethylene/polyethylene grafted anhydride maleic (PE-g-MA)/montmorillonite clay (MMT) nanocomposites were prepared by melt intercalation in a Torque Rheometer. It was used an untreated clay (MMT) and a treated clay with the quaternary ammonium salt (OMMT). The influence of the processing conditions was evaluated, that is: 60 and 120rpm, 7 and 14 min, 190 and 220°C. The obtained systems were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and rheological behavior. The results from XRD and rheological behavior indicated that the system composed of polyethylene/PE-g-MA/OMMT presented intercalated nanocomposite structure, with larger basal distance and high viscosity, in the conditions of 120rpm and 7min, independent of temperature. (author)