ABS/clay nanocomposites obtained by a solution technique: Influence of clay organic modifiers

Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) polymer/clay nanocomposites were produced using an intercalation-adsorption technique from poly mer in solution: polymer/clay suspensions were subjected to ultrasonic processing to increase the effectiveness of mixing. Several kinds of organically modified layered silicates (OMLS) were used to understand the influence of the surfactant nature on the intercalation-exfoliatio. mechanism. We show that only imidazolium-treated montmorillonite (DMHDIM-MMT) is stable at the processing temperature of 200 C used for hot-pressing, whereas alkyl-ammonium modified clays show significant degradation. The morphology of ABS based polymer nanocomposites prepared in this work was characterized by means of wide angle X-ray diffraction. (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dynamic-mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to determine the storage modulus an, damping coefficient as a function of temperature, and to investigate the correlations between mechanical properties and morphology of the nano composites. The thermal stability was assessed by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DMA and TGA show that the nanocomposite based on imidazolium-modified clay out-perform the nanocomposites based on quaternary-ammonium-modified clays in terms of mechanics properties and thermal stability. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.