Polyacrylamide modification of halloysite nanotubes surface by inverse emulsion polymerisation and their application in reinforcing PTFE

This work exploited the abundant hydroxyl group of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) to induce acrylamide-polymerisation modification by inverse emulsion (water-in-oil), resulting in polyacrylamide (PAM)-modified HNTs. The structure and dispersion properties of the modified HNTs were analysed by a series of characterisations. As a promising application of HNTs, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) reinforced with HNTs-PAM was prepared. The mechanical and tribological properties of the HNTs-PAM/PTFE were intensively studied. The results show that the volume wear rate of the HNTs-PAM/PTFE reduced 97.3% relative to PTFE. The wear resistance of HNTs in filling PTFE was desirable.