Microstructure and rheological behavior of block copolymer/clay nanocomposites

Abstract

Organic/Inorganic hybrid nanocomposites based on poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) copolymer (SBS) and clay are fabricated by melt intercalation. The degree of intercalation is dependent on the surface properties of clay and SBS. The epoxized block in epoxized SBS acts as a strong attractive site with the clay surface, which yields the increased interlayer space in the layered silicates. It is also shown that the thermal stability of clay as well as the surface properties is very important in fabricating the polymer/clay nanocomposites. The rheological behavior of the SBS/clay nanocomposites is quite different from that of SBS itself. Both storage moduli and complex viscosity of the SBSI layered silicate nanocomposites increase and show non-terminal flow behavior.