Synthesis of polyurethane/clay intercalated nanocomposites

A kind of polyurethane/organophilic montmorillonite (PU/OMT) nanocomposite based on polyether, OMT, phenylmethane diisocyante and diglycol was synthes ized and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution elect ron microscopy (HREM). A polyether/OMT hybrid was first prepared in a nanoc omposite form as confirmed by XRD. It was shown that there is a multilayere d structure consisting of alternating PU chains stacked with the layers of the silicate layers in the microstructure of the PU/OMT nanocomposite as co nfirmed by study of the XRD patterns and the HREM images. The contents of t he hard segment of PU and OMT had an effect on the basal spacing of the PU/ OMT nanocomposite.