Selective Orientation of Needlelike Sepiolite Nanoclay in Polymer Blend for Controlled Properties

M S Satyanarayana; P R Sreenath; Anil K Bhowmick; K Dinesh Kumar

doi:10.1021/acsomega.8b01618

Selective Orientation of Needlelike Sepiolite Nanoclay in Polymer Blend for Controlled Properties

ACS Omega. 2018 Sep 24;3(9):11691-11702. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b01618. eCollection 2018 Sep 30.

Authors

M S Satyanarayana¹, P R Sreenath¹, Anil K Bhowmick², K Dinesh Kumar¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Patna 801106, India.
² Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India.

Abstract

Sepiolite nanoclay needles have been selectively localized either in the natural rubber (NR) phase or in the carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR) phase of the XNBR/NR (50/50) blend prepared by the solution casting method. In a systematic manner, the role of the difference value between the interaction parameter of individual blend components (NR or XNBR)/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent in selectively localizing the sepiolite nanoclay to the NR phase or the XNBR phase of the XNBR/NR (50/50) blend has been explored. A higher percentage of sepiolite nanoclay resides in the dispersed NR phase when the difference value between the interaction parameter of NR/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent is lower than the difference value between the interaction parameter of XNBR/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent. On the other hand, a higher percentage of sepiolite nanoclay resides in the continuous XNBR phase when the difference value between the interaction parameter of XNBR/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent is lower than the difference value between the interaction parameter of NR/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent. It has been shown that by judiciously choosing different solvent combinations to prepare the blend and to disperse nanoclay, it is possible to fine-tune the difference value between the interaction parameter of individual blend components (NR or XNBR)/solvent and the interaction parameter of sepiolite nanoclay/solvent and dictate the selective localization of sepiolite nanoclay to the NR phase or the XNBR phase of XNBR/NR (50/50) blend. This study shows that it is possible to generate a rubber blend with controlled properties by selectively localizing needlelike sepiolite nanoclay in the dispersed phase or the continuous phase of the rubber blend prepared by the solution casting method.