Author(s)

H. S. Jeon & J. K. Rameshwaram

Abstract

A novel technique to create exfoliated polydiene polymer-clay nanocornposites is explored, in which the polymer chains penetrate into the layer spacing of the clay by solution or melt blending. The structures and viscoelastic properties of exfoliated or intercalated polymerlclay nanocomposites have been studied as a function of the clay volume fraction with two different nlolecular weights of polydiene polymers using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transinission electron microscopy (TEM), and oscillatory shear rheology. The results presented here indicate that the molecular weight of polyisoprene (PI) or polybutadiene (PB) homopolymer affects the dispersion of nanoclay sheets as well as the viscoelastic properties of the exfoliated or intercalated PI

Keywords