Use of Pristine Clay Platelets as a Suspension Stabilizer for the Synthesis of Poly(methyl methacrylate)/Clay Nanocomposites

✍ Scribed by Shyam Khatana; Anup Kumar Dhibar; Suprakas Sinha Ray; Bhanu Bhusan Khatua

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 728 KB
• Volume: 210
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1352
• DOI: 10.1002/macp.200900119

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The role of Na^+^‐mmt platelets as a stabilizer during the suspension polymerization of MMA is described. The addition of a small amount of Na^+^‐mmt into the system without suspension stabilizer results in the formation of spherical beads of PMMA/Na^+^‐mmt nanocomposites with uniform sizes, whereas in the presence of o‐mmt, it resulted in the formation of PMMA/o‐mmt composite clusters. FT‐IR spectroscopy reveals a strong interaction between the PMMA carbonyl groups with the clay surface in the PMMA/Na^+^‐mmt nanocomposite. DSC results indicate a significant increase in the glass transition temperature of PMMA in the PMMA/Na^+^‐mmt nanocomposite as compared to that of the PMMA/o‐mmt nanocomposite. The thermal stability of PMMA is also increased in the case of the PMMA/Na^+^‐mmt nanocomposite.

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