《Silicon-methoxide-modified clays and their polystyrene nanocomposites》.pdf

Silicon-Methoxide-Modified Clays and Their Polystyrene Nanocomposites JIN ZHU,1 PAUL START,2 KENNETH A. MAURITZ,2 CHARLES A. WILKIE1 1Department of Chemistry, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 2School of Polymers and High Performance Materials, University of Southern Mississippi, P.O. Box 10076, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406 Received 21 September 2001; accepted 18 February 2002 Published online 00 Month 2002 in Wiley InterScience (). DOI: 10.1002/pola.10231 ABSTRACT: Silicon-methoxide-containing modified clays were obtained through cat- ionic exchange between the sodium clay and the ammonium cation of [3-(trimethoxysi- lyl)propyl]octadecyldimethylammonium chloride (Si18). The nanocomposites were pre- pared through bulk polymerization of styrene in which the Si18 clay was dispersed. The silicon-methoxide offers the possibility of reaction between the methoxide and a clay hydroxyl group to link together the cation and the clay. The nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Their thermal stability and flame retardancy were measured by thermo- gravimetric analysis (TGA) and cone calorimetry. Linkage between the silicon and the clay apparently occurs in the clay but is not likely to occur in the nanocomposite, perhaps because of the presence of the polystyrene spreading the distance between the reactive sites, which makes reaction more difficult. The results from TGA and cone calorimetry were similar to those obtained with other nanocomposites. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1498–1503, 2002 Keywords: po