Rheological evidence for the microstructure of intercalated polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites

The rheological behavior of intercalated polystyrene/layered silicate nanoc omposites was investigated. Both storage and loss moduli increased with sil icate loading at all frequencies and showed non-terminal behavior at low fr equencies which is a typical behavior of non-homogeneous systems with order ed microstructures. The rheological behavior in intercalated polystyrene/la yered silicate nanocomposite depends not only on the intercalation of polym ers, but also on the alignment of silicate layers. Furthermore, the real ti me intercalation dynamic of polystyrene into the layered silicate, monitore d by rheological measurements, were also consistent with our simple quantit ative analysis.