Development of exfoliated nanocomposite prepared from vinyl acetate and montmorillonite

Abstract

To improve the chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), montmorillonite (MMT) was added and polymerised with vinyl acetate to prepare an exfoliated nanocomposite of PVAc–MMT. Linear macromolecular chains of PVAc were formed between MMT layers and they exfoliated MMT into layers or sheets of nanoparticles. Both PVAc and PVAc–MMT were pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluids, and possessed the normal stress effect (or Weissenberg effect) that was the pole climbing phenomenon. PVAc–MMT's static tensile properties were better, and PVAc's glass transition temperature was lowered by MMT. Both PVAc and PVAc–MMT possessed cold crystallisation, and their pyrolysis were similar, because MMT had no obvious effect on pyrolysis temperatures but mainly delayed thermal degradation processes.