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Preparation, Dispersion, and Crystallization of the Poly(trimethylene terephthalate)/Organically Modified Montmorillonite (PTT/MMT) Nanocomposites

Three commercial organically modified montmorillonites (OMMTs), with increasing surface hydrophobicities of CL30B < CL25A < CL20A, were selected for melt compounding poly(trimethyl terephthalate)/montmorillonite (PTT/MMT) nanocomposites. The effects of the polymer-MMT interactions, MMT content, mixing time, and intensity of shear on the dispersion of clay and the resulted morphologies of the nanocomposites were investigated. The wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed that CL30B was completely exfoliated whereas CL25A and CL20A were partially exfoliated in the PTT matrix with the clay loadings of 1 wt% and 3 wt%. Moreover, the exfoliation of the three clay stacks showed both mixing time and shear intensity dependences, especially depending markedly on increased shear intensity. When a glycidyl end-capped epoxy resin was added during mixing, the exfoliation levels of CL25A and CL20A were improved considerably, whereas it decreased markedly for CL30B because of the “locking” effect of epoxy on the slippage process of the CL30B stacks. However, epoxy only contributes a little to the increase in the intercalation level of the PTT chains in the three OMMT layers. The differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) results showed that the crystallization process of the PTT matrix was accelerated significantly in the presence of clay, especially by the finer clay dispersion.