Abstract
The rheological behaviour of styrene-free unsaturated polyester resin-organoclay (Cloisite 15A) nanocomposites at various clay contents, prepared by melt mixing, was investigated. Styrene-free resin was used to achieve high-shear mixing and to avoid viscosity changes due to solvent evaporation. In order to compare the effects of shear- and diffusion-induced phenomena on the intercalation of nanoclay; samples were prepared at two different temperatures of 40 °C (cold-mixed) and 150 °C (hot-mixed) and tested in the range of 40-120 °C using dynamic rheometry. Complex viscosity-temperature curves for cold-mixed samples showed a decrease in viscosity with increasing temperature followed by the formation of a plateau at a particular temperature, depending on the clay content. This behaviour is characteristic of systems with a network structure. The results of small angle X-ray diffraction and TEM analysis confirmed the intercalation of the nanoclay particles as well as a reduction in their thickness. TEM images revealed that the size reduction happened through bending fracture followed by shear delamination of the fractured clay layers. On this basis, a structure of the physical network was proposed to be formed by sticking several nanoclay stacks inside a polymer chain and more involvement of polymer chains with the delaminated layers' ends. A dispersion model was used to quantify and interpret the dispersion status of nanoclay particles in the resin system.