UHMWPE-layered silicate nanocomposites by in situ polymerization with tris(pyrazolyl)borate titanium/clay catalyst

• Autor(a) principal: Junges,Fernando
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Beauvalet,Mariana S., Leal,Bárbara C., Casagrande,Adriana C. A., Mota,Fábio F., Mauler,Raquel S., Casagrande Jr,Osvaldo L.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-50532009000300010
• topic: clay; UHMWPE; nanocomposites; titanium catalyst

Polyethylene-MMT nanocomposites were prepared by in situ polymerization methodology using TpMs*TiCl3 (1) intercalated into the gallery of Cloisite® 30B (C30B) using methylaluminoxane (MAO) as activator. From the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis it was observed that the basal spacing of the activated organoclay changes from 1.85 nm (2θ = 4.8) to 2.18 nm (2θ = 4.0) indicating that the intercalation of the titanium catalyst into the gallery took place. The catalytic system 1/C30B/MAO was active in the ethylene polymerization under different reaction conditions. The exfoliated morphology of the PE-MMT nanocomposite was further examined and confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The presence of exfoliated clay (5 wt.%) in the PE matrix confers better mechanical properties (flexural modulus and storage modulus) when compared with the ones displayed by the neat PE produced using exclusively 1.