Novel polyether polyurethane/clay nanocomposites synthesized with organic-modified montmorillonite as chain extenders

✍ Scribed by Ping Ni; Jing Li; Jishuan Suo; Shuben Li

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 121 KB
• Volume: 94
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.20950

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A novel polyether polyurethane/clay nanocomposite was synthesized using polytetramethyleneglycol (PTMEG), 4,4′‐diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), 1,6‐hexamethylenediamine, and modified Na^+^‐montmorillonite. Here, organic‐modified montmorillonite (O‐MMT) was formed by applying 1,6‐hexamethylenediamine as a swelling agent to treat Na^+^‐montmorillonite. The X‐ray analysis showed that exfoliation occurred for the higher O‐MMT content (40 wt %) in the polymer matrix. Mechanical analysis indicated that when the O‐MMT was used as chain extender to replace a part of 1,2‐diaminopropane to form PU/clay nanocomposites, the strength and strain‐at‐break of the polymer were enhanced with increased content of O‐MMT in the matrix. When the O‐MMT content attained about 5%, the tensile strength and elongation at break were over two times that of the pure PU. The thermal stability and the glass‐transition of O‐MMT/PU nanocomposites also increased with increasing the O‐MMT content. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 534–541, 2004