Tensile, fatigue and thermomechanical properties of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) nanocomposites incorporating low and high loadings of pre-swelled organically modified montmorillonite

• Published in: Polymer testing Vol. 85; p. 106426
• Main Authors: Abdul Hamid, Asna Rasyidah, Osman, Azlin Fazlina, Mustafa, Zaleha, Mandal, Subrata, Ananthakrishnan, Rajakumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2020
• Subjects: Fatigue; Organically modified montmorillonite; Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl-acetate); Tensile toughness; Thermomechanical; Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl-acetate); Fatigue; Organically modified montmorillonite; Tensile toughness; Thermomechanical
• ISSN: 0142-9418; 1873-2348
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106426

The production of exfoliated polymer/clay based nanocomposites is crucial to obtain an actual benefit of nanoscale reinforcement in the polymer matrix. In this project, the production of exfoliated polymer/clay nanocomposite was aimed through the use of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) copolymer as matrix and organically modified montmorillonite (O-MMT) as nanofiller. The research work involved the use of pre-swelled technique through magnetic stirring and ultra-sonication to obtain more readily exfoliated and dispersed O-MMT nanofiller for EVA nanocomposite production. The aims were to allow the improvement in O-MMT exfoliation and dispersion when the nanofiller was incorporated in high loading (greater than 3 wt%) into the copolymer. The original and pre-swelled O-MMTs were employed to produce the EVA/O-MMT nanocomposites with 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 wt% nanofiller by melt compounding technique. The results of TEM, tensile and fatigue tests, XRD, FTIR and DMA proved that the pre-swelling technique applied on the O-MMT before melt compounding with the EVA copolymer can bring positive impact to the performance of the nanocomposite. As opposed to the original O-MMT, the pre-swelled O-MMT has the ability to improve the tensile toughness, cyclic stability and storage modulus of the EVA copolymer even when high O-MMT loading (7 wt %) was employed. Improvement in the EVA - O-MMT interactions in the nanocomposite system was postulated to be the main reason for such observations. •Pre-swelled technique to obtain exfoliated O-MMT nanofiller for EVA nanocomposite.•Pre-swelled O-MMT enhanced tensile and fatigue properties of the EVA.•Pre-swelling allows the use of high O-MMT loading in the EVA nanocomposite system.•Pre-swelled O-MMT enhanced thermomechanical properties of the EVA copolymer.•Pre-swelling using water is a simple, economic and safe method for exfoliating O-MMT.