Preparation by Direct Injection and Properties of Polypropylene/Montmorillonite Composites

Polypropylene/montmorillonite composite was prepared by direct injection, properties and structure of the composite were studied. The result indicates that montmorillonite can be intercalated in case of the presence of intercalation reagent, and the change of distance between two silicate layers of montmorillonite is not determined by the heat or mechanical energy in the process of injection, but totally determined by the solvent effect on montmorillonite by the intercalation reagent. Though intercalation reagent can not make polypropylene itself do intercalation effect on the montmorillonite, it can help polypropylene disperse in the granules of montmorillonite easily and make the montmorillonite which is the dispersed phase in polypropylene/montmorillonite composites form two levels of structure. The first level is the granules of montmorillonite which is dispersed in polypropylene. The second level is the layers of silicate in granules of montmorillonite which is separated by the intercalation reagent with same distance. There is good interrelationship between the impact strength and the distance of two silicate layers of montmorillonite. With the increasing of the content of intercalation reagent, good effect of toughening of polypropylene/montmorillonite composites can be achieved, but the tensile strength will decrease to some extent.