Effect of silane-modified clay on polyethylene/clay nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization with zirconocene/mao catalyst

Abstract

Polyethylene is the most widely used commodity plastics because of low production cost, reduced environmental impact and the wide range of application. However, the usage of polyethylene has some restrictions. Polyethylene has low mechanical strength, low thermal resistance, low gas permeability and easy to catch fire. The polymer was added by additive or filler, which that can improve polyethylene properties. Generally, the addition of additive into polymer use micro-size additive but in the recent year, nano-size additive was added to polymer. It was found that the nano-sized additive show better properties than micro-size additive. The addition of nano-sized additive or nanofiller is called polymer nanocomposties. In this research, for the first part of this study, the two different impregnation methods (in situ and ex situ impregnation method) were investigated. For the second part, unmodified and modified by silane compounds were conducted. The properties of polyethylene/clay nanocomposites were also investigated. It found that in situ impregnation method gives higher catalytic activity than ex situ impregnation method. The ex situ impregnation method resulted in maximal thermal properties and crystallization. The nanoclay was modified by tetracholosilane (SiCl4), which it shows the higher activity than unmodified nanoclay.