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 O2 and CO2 permeability. Polymer/clay nanocomposite structure was determined on the base of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy (TEM).