Thermoplastic polymer nanocomposites with montmorillonite-Lab vs industrial scale fabrication

Abstract

Fabrication of polypropylene or polyamide-6/montmorillonite nanocomposites in a laboratory- and industrial-scale by melt processing has been described. Depending on the fabrication scale, different technological problems were observed that need to be taken into account during production of PP and PA-6-based nanocomposites with MMT which constitute a promising class of modern materials for engineering and packaging applications. Fabrication of PP and PA-6 nanocomposites with montmorillonite both on laboratory and industrial scale needs to be optimized in terms of processing conditions that include pre-mixing parameters, feeding rate, temperature of the barrel zone and extrusion die, screw speed and head pressure. Proper cleaning procedures need to be applied and the selection of the 'main' fraction enables to get nanostructured materials with enhanced properties. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.