Rheological, thermal and tensile properties of PE/nanoclay nanocomposites and PE/nanoclay nanocomposite cast films

The effects of three different mixers, two different feeding orders and nanoclay content on the structure development and rheological properties of PE/nanoclay nanocomposite samples were investigated. Fractional Zener and Carreau–Yasuda models were applied to discuss the melt linear viscoelastic properties of the samples. Moreover, scaling law for fractal networks was used to quantify clay dispersion depended on the PE matrix structure. The simultaneous feeding resulted in better dispersion and melt intercalation for the nanoclay as compared to the compatibilizer/nanoclay masterbatch feeding. The twin screw extruder (Brabender DSE 25 model) showed greater potential for melt intercalation of PE/nanoclay as compared to the internal mixers (Brabender W50 and Haake Rheomix 3000 batch mixer) . Comparing the thermal Analysis of PE, PE/PE-g-MA and PE/nanoclay samples by DSC technique showed the opposite effect of the compatibilizer and the nanoclay to crystallization behavior of PE. PE/nanoclay cast film samples were produced with three different draw ratios. X-ray diffraction structural analysis in conjunction with the melt linear viscoelastic measurements confirmed that the PE/nanoclay cast film produced at higher draw ratio showed the more effective melt intercalation. Tensile test showed the machine direction modulus and yield strength of both PE and PE/nanoclay cast film samples reduced with increase of draw ratio