<br/>The polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites have received significant attention, owing to their remarkable mechanical, thermal, and physical-chemical properties compared with virgin polymer and conventional (microscale) composites. Montmorillonite, known as clay, has two tetrahedral sheets of silica sandwiching a central octahedral sheet of alumina, is naturally hydrophilic and the stacks of clay platelets are held tightly together by electrostatic forces. The preparation of a composite out of untreated clay is not very effective as most of the clay cannot interact with the matrix, the clay must be treated before it can be used to make a nanocomposite. By exchanging the ions present in between the layers with various organic cations, montmorillonite clay can be compatibilized with a wide variety of matrix polymers.<br/><br/>In the present work the effects of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), Cloisite 10A, involving dimethyl benzyl hydrogenated tallow ammonium as the organic modifier, on curing and thermal characteristics of polybenzoxazine based on phenol and aniline, PPa. The mono substituent benzoxazine monomer, 3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazine, was synthesized by solventless method and characterized by Fourier transform infrared, (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry (DP-MS) techniques. The pure benzoxazine monomer and benzoxazine monomer in the presence of OMMT were polymerized by applying a step-wise curing program. The disappearance of the exothermic ring opening polymerization peak in the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves of the polymer and composite were confirmed polymerization of the monomers by the applied curing program. The morphology of the nanocomposite was evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermal characteristics of polybenzoxazine and its composite were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), DSC and DP-MS techniques.

Effect of organically modified montmorillonite on polymerization and thermal degradation mechanisms of polybenzoxazine

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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