J. F. Xiao, Y. Y. Chen, S. F. Wang, P. Lu and Y. Hu (2016) Thermal Degradation Mechanism of Polycarbonate/Organically Modified Montmorillonite Nanocomposites. Journal/Polymer Composites 37 2301-2305. [In English]
Web link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pc.23408
Keywords: LAYERED SILICATE NANOCOMPOSITES; DECOMPOSITION; NANOPARTICLES; STABILITY; POLYMERS

Abstract: There were contradictory results about the effect of clay on polycarbonate (PC) thermal stability in previous reported papers. For ascertainment of the actual role of clay, PC nanocomposites were prepared by direct melt-mixing PC with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride modified montmorillonite (OMT). The results of X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution electron microscopy experiments present the formation of uniformly intercalated structure. Thermogravimetric analyses show the onset decomposition temperature of PC/OMT nanocomposites is earlier 65 degrees C than neat PC. The mechanism of PC thermal decomposition effected by OMT was discussed in detail. It reveals that OMT can catalyze thermal degradation of PC macromolecular chains and decrease thermal stability of the nanocomposites. (C) 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers