Authors: Magatte Diagne Mamadou Gueye Anicet Dasilva Loic Vidal Adams Tidjani
Publish Date: 2006/11/01
Volume: 41, Issue: 21, Pages: 7005-7010
Abstract
Nanocomposites of polypropylenegraftmaleic anhydride/clay were prepared by melt blending in an extruder mixer The nanoscale dispersion of the clay in the polymer was analysed by wideangle Xray diffraction XRD and transmission electron microscopy TEM The results of XRD and TEM showed that the nanocomposites obtained were a kind of intercalateddelaminated structures side by side with different dominant states depending on the clay used and on the processing conditions The consequences of photooxidation on the thermal stability and fire retardant properties of the nanocomposites were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and cone calorimetry tests It appeared that this degradation dramatically affected the important properties of the nanocomposites A loss of thermal stability and fire retardant performance was observed This was ascribed to scission reactions that occurred during the oxidative degradation prior to thermal and fire testsThe authors are indebted to the Volkswagen foundation for the financial support the Federal Institute for Research and Testing BAM for the cone tests Mr Claude da Silva from the Université de Mulhouse France for the Xray measurements and Dr Bénédicte Mailhot from the Laboratoire de Photochimie de l’Université BP de Clermont France for the oxidation profile
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