Abstract
Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/sepiolite nanocomposites were prepared using PVC and natural, organo‐modified, acid–activated, and calcined sepiolite samples through the solution intercalation method. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, UV–vis spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were used to determine the thermal stability, optical behavior, interactions, and morphology of samples, respectively. The dispersion of sepiolite in the PVC matrix was examined by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The nanocomposites exhibited higher thermal stability than that of pure PVC. XRD and TEM results showed that sepiolite particles were dispersed in the nanoscaled PVC matrix. The UV–vis spectra showed that the transmission of nanocomposites increased with the sepiolite content and wavelength. The thermal degradation behavior of PVC was investigated by using TG analysis under nonisothermal conditions at different heating rates under a nitrogen atmosphere. The apparent activation energy of samples was determined by using the Kissinger method. The nanocomposite showed higher activation energy than that of pure PVC. The results showed that the thermal degradation of PVC was shifted toward higher temperatures with an increase in the amount of sepiolite. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 32: E65–E82, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.20271