Highly exfoliated natural rubber/Clay composites by "propping-open procedure": The influence of fatty-acid chain length on exfoliation
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 369-383 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Macromolecular Materials and Engineering |
| Volume | 297 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2012 |
| Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Abstract
A high degree of exfoliation of MMT in NR is achieved by using the so-called "propping-open approach" in which a stepwise expansion of the interlayer spacing of MMT takes place. The nanostructure is characterized by WAXD and TEM which indicate different extents of clay dispersion depending on the fatty-acid chain length. Curing kinetics of different nanocomposites is studied and interestingly low activation energies of the vulcanization process are observed in the case of NR/EMMT nanocomposites. The incorporation of EMMT dramatically affects composite properties whereas DMA indicates significant reduction of tan δ peak height and the tensile strength approximately doubles from 14 to 30 MPa with only 5 phr EMMT.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- curing kinetics, exfoliation, Mooney-Rivlin equation, nanocomposites, propping-open approach