MORPHOLOGICAL HIERARCHY OF BUTADIENEACRYLONITRILE MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITE

A hierarchical model of the morphology of amine terminated butadieneac rylonitrile-montmorillonite nanocomposite was established. The composi te was prepared by ion exchange between the onium salt of the polymer (ATBN) and the interlamellar cation of the mineral (MMT). Composite co ntaining 40% mineral was obtained. Chemical analysis indicated that al l the ionic sites of the mineral have been occupied by polymer end gro ups. The d((001)) spacing and the span between the internal lamellar s urface were only expanded to about 14 Angstrom and 5 Angstrom, respect ively, suggesting horizontal packing of the polymer molecules. TEM exa mination of microtome sections,prepared from compression molded sample s, revealed that the lamellae, laminated with polymers assembled into multiplets of about 5 nm. On the other hand, the multiplets appear to assemble into mineral rich domains whose average size was 250 nm.