Permeation Properties of Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites

The important characteristics of polymer/clay nanocomposites are stability, barrier properties and in the case of polyvinyl chloride also plasticizer migration into other materials. Therefore, the permeation properties of polymer/clay nanocomposites are discussed in this paper. The attention was focused to the polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Natural type of montmorillonite MMTNa+ and modified types of montmorillonite from Southern Clay Products were used as the inorganic phase. As the compounding machine, one screw Buss KO-kneader was employed. The principal aim is to fully exfoliate the clay into polymer matrix and enhanced the permeation properties. Prepared samples were tested for O-2 and CO2 permeability. Polymer/clay nanocomposite structure was determined on the base of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy (TEM).