DISPERSION AND TENSILE BEHAVIOR OF POLYPROPYLENE/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITES PRODUCED VIA MELT INTERCALATION

Most of the articles on polymer nanocomposites focus on the importance of chemistry used to modify the surface of the clay, usually montmorillonite (MMT), and characterization of the nano-scale structure obtained. The role and importance of processing were also discussed recently. However, few papers concerning the correlation between morphology of MMT and mechanical properties were published. In order to understand. the tensile behavior of PP/Montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites better, and to further improve the reinforcement efficiency, we first prepared the PP nanocomposites via direct melt intercalation using conventional twin-screw extrusion. The dispersion and tensile property of the composites were then investigated by SEM, XRD, TEM and a video-controlled tensile set-up. The macroscopic and microscopic dispersion of MMT in PP matrix was verified by XRD and TEM, combined with SEM. The tensile properties were obtained by video-controlled tensile set-up, which gives true stress-strain curve. It was found that a partly intercalated and partly exfoliated structure (also called incomplete exfoliation) existed in the system. Though the tensile strength of PP nanocomposites is not much improved in engineering stress-strain curves, more than 20% increase of true stress was found in a true stress-strain experiment at high true strain, which indicates that only oriented silicate layers can have a big effect on tensile properties: Not only orientation of silicate platelets but also the degree of exfoliation is a key factor to determine the reinforcement efficiency. The reinforcement efficiency of MMT has been discussed based on the 'continuum' Halpin-Tsai equations. A good agreement was found between experimental data and theoretical prediction by changing N value (number of platelets per stack) which corresponding to different state of the dispersion of MMT in PP matrix.

STRESS-INDUCED CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLYURETHANE/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITE

Exfoliated polyurethane/montmorillonite nanocomposites with both high elongation at break and high tensilestrength were studied by dynamic-infrared spectroscopy (dynamic-IR). The results show that crystallization induced byadditional stress is impeded by the nano-layered organo montmorillonite.

Adsorption of Congo Red onto Lignocellulose/Montmorillonite Nanocomposite

Lignocellulose/montmorillonite （LNC/MMT） nanocomposites were prepared and characterized by FTIR and XRD. The adsorption of congo red （CR） on LNC/MMT nanocomposite was studied in detail. The effects of contact temperature, pH value of the dye solutions, contact time and concentration of dye solutions on the adsorption capacities of lignocellulose （LNC）, montmorillonite （MMT） and the nanocomposite were investigated. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms and adsorption thermodynamics of the nanocomposite for CR were also studied. The results show that the adsorption capacity of LNC/MMT nanocomosite is higher than that of LNC and MMT. All the adsorption processes fit very well with the pseudo-second-order and the Langmuir equation. From thermodynamic studies, it is seen that the adsorption is spontaneous and endothermic.

A Facile Method for Dye and Heavy Metal Elimination by p H Sensitive Acid Activated Montmorillonite/Polyethersulfone Nanocomposite Membrane

Modified clay/polyethersulfone（PES） mixed matrix membranes（MMMs） were prepared by acid activated montmorillonite（AA-MMT） with different concentrations and used to eliminate dyes and remove heavy metals from aqueous solution. The morphology and physiochemical properties of prepared clay nanoparticles and MMMs were characterized using X-ray diffraction（XRD）, Fourier transform infrared（FTIR） spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, enegy dispersive X-ray（EDX） spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller（BET） analysis, atomic force microscopy（AFM）, contact angle measurement and fouling studies. The filtration study showed that removal of dyes and heavy metals was strongly dependent on p H so that dyes with positive and negative charges showed different separation efficiency in acidic and alkaline conditions. The modified membranes possessed better heavy metal removal in acidic and alkaline p Hs. When the rejection of heavy metals was measured in an alkaline environment, it was observed that the rejection had a great increase compared to the neutral values for Zn^（2＋） and Ni^（2＋） ions, while rejection of Cu^（2＋） and Cd^（2＋） did not undergo significant changes. So it can be concluded that modified membranes show good selectivity for elimination of Zn^（2＋） and Ni^（2＋） ions with respect to other cations.