Effects of montmorillonite and compatibilizer on the mechanical and thermal properties of dispersing intercalated PMMA nanocomposites.

We added montmorillonite (MMT) to improve the mechanical properties and thermal stability of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). We used a twin-screw extruder to produce standard specimens for examinations. We examined the layer distance of MMT and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites containing various amounts of MMT. The chemical structure and morphology of specimens were characterized with wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. It was observed that by increasing the amount of MMT, layer distance increased from 2.16 to 3.87 nm for the composite containing 5 wt% MMT. In the tensile and impact properties examinations, the composite containing 1% MMT revealed the best result with increase of 1.81%. The shore hardness and wear resistance properties were also significantly improved. The beginning of thermal decomposition of nanocomposites slightly shifted to a higher temperature, compared with the thermogram of pure PMMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]