European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

MICROWAVE ASSISTED SYNTHESIS AND GAS BARRIER PROPERTIES OF PMMA/CLAY NANOCOMPOSITE

Trinath Biswal, Pramila Behera and Prafulla Kumar Sahoo*

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to prepare PMMA/Clay nanocomposites based on commercially available constituents using microwave–assisted emulsifier-free emulsion technique, a highly efficient and feasible production method. The effects of three different commercially available organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clays were taken for PMMA matrix, particularly for studying the compatibility and improving the gas barrier property tested by a gas permeability tester. On the basis of exfoliation/ intercalation and dispersion of legend silicates, the mechanical, thermal and optical properties were studied. The thermal properties were studied by TGA and DSC while the morphology and dispersion of clay in the PMMA matrix by using WAXD and SEM respectively. The interlayer distance and intercalation of the modified clays were determined by WAXD. The mechanical and the optical properties were studied by ultraviolet visible (UV/VIS) spectrometry. When compared with unfilled PMMA, gas barrier property increased by 27% for PMMA/Dellite 67G, PMMA/Nanofil SE3010 and by 17% for PMMA/cloisite 11B. Increase in thermal decomposition temperature by 20oC, for all composites were observed. The young`s modulus for the three composites practically remains unchanged. The elongation at break and tensile strength showed decreasing values by 16.7% and 9.5% for PMMA/Nanofil SE3010 and 15.0% and 14.2% for PMMA/cloisite11B respectively while these values were not claimed for PMMA/Dellite 67G.

Keywords: Emulsion polymerization, microwave irradiation, nanocomposite, gas barrier property.