Temperature controlled synthesis of polystyrene/clay nanocomposites and their characterizations


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Orman F., ALTINTEN A.

JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE OF GAZI UNIVERSITY, cilt.32, sa.2, ss.303-312, 2017 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

Özet

Polymeric nanocomposites prepared with clay are of great importance in nanocomposites. Belonging to the family of smectite clays, particularly bentonite and montmorillonite, with a regular layered structure is widely used in preparing polymeric nanocomposites. In this experimental study, two different production method and two different operating conditions were used to obtain polymeric nanocomposites. Production methods used in this study is the in situ polymerization method and melt intercalation method. Experiments were performed at constant 100(omicron)C and 105(omicron)C temperatures. System temperature was kept constant with self-tuning PID (STPID) controller. STPID control model and tuning parameters were determined by the genetic algorithm. After obtaining nanocomposites, firstly % monomer conversion and viscosity average molecular weights were calculated and then characterization studies were performed. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to determine thermal properties; Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to determine surface characterization. Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used for structural analysis. Shore D hardness measurement method was used in the evaluation of mechanical properties. According to the characterization of the study it was determined to be generally better than the properties of nanocomposites obtained by melt intercalation method.