Properties of PMMA/clay nanocomposites prepared using various compatibilizers

Abstract

Abstract Background In the fabrication of polymer/clay nanocomposites, the compatibilizer plays a vital role in altering the properties of nanocomposite systems. The present work primarily deals with the development of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/clay nanocomposites containing different compatibilizers (PP-g-MA, PE-g-MA and PS-g-MA) with 5 wt.% nanoclay. Methods The various PMMA nanocomposites were prepared by melt intercalation method using twin screw extruder followed by injection moulding to make specimens for mechanical testing. Results The mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of nanocomposites were evaluated by tensile test, impact, hardness, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The intercalated structure of the PMMA nanocomposites is validated by XRD and TEM analysis. The results are found to be good agreement with each other. Conclusions The TGA data demonstrate that PMMA nanocomposites exhibit enhanced thermal stability of 22-36 °C with respect to pure PMMA, at 50% weight loss is considered as point of reference. The PMMA nanocomposite prepared with PS-g-MA compatibilizer promotes adequate interface adhesion between the nanoclay and polymer matrix. As a result, PMMA-5-PS sample displays improved mechanical properties over PMMA-5-PP and PMMA-5-PE samples. The maximum improvement of tensile strength, Young’s modulus and hardness for the PMMA-5-PS nanocomposites over PMMA-5-PE is estimated to be 8, 2 and 26 %, respectively.