Compatibilisation of multi-monomer grafted poly(ethylene-co-octene) on polypropylene/organo-montmorillonite nanocomposite

ABSTRACTThe present work reported a strategy involving the preparation of polypropylene (PP)/organic montmorillonite (OMMT)/poly(ethylene-co-octene) (POE), POE grafted with maleic anhydride (POE-g-MAH), and POE grafted with MAH and 2-hydroxy ethyl acrylate (POE-g-MAH/HEA) nanocomposites. The results of FTIR, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and SEM analyses show that the compatibilisation effect of POE-g-MAH/HEA was better than that of POE-g-MAH and pure POE, which can greatly increase intercalation and exfoliation for the clays. Correspondingly, the compatibiliser can significantly improve the notched impact strength and thermal stability of PP/OMMT nanocomposites and simultaneously effectively inhibit the decrease in the tensile strength. However, the heterogeneous nucleation of the clay nanosheets on PP was obviously inhibited by the presence of the POE-g-MAH/HEA.