Studies on Butadiene/Styrene/4-Vinyl Pyridine Copolymer-montmorillonite Intercalated Hybrid

A new method to prepare polymer-montmorillonite hybrid was developed. Montmorillonite could be dispersed in water as exfoliated layers, then when it was blended with the butadiene/styrene/4-vinyl pyridine copolymer emulsion, the latex particle was interpenetrated with the layer of montmorillonite during the blending process. When the blend was coagulated by hydrochloric acid, the pyridine group reacted with H⁺, so the copolymer with positive charge could intercalate the layer of montmorillonite that had negative charge. There was some strong bonding between copolymer and montmorillonite in the hybrid. The extracting experiment showed that montmorillonite absorbed some copolymer. It was found that the layer structure of montmorillonite was swollen and became chaos by means of XRD. TEM showed that the layer dispersed uniformly in the copolymer matrix and the distance between the layers was more than 6 nm. Copolymer molecule intercalated montmorillonite layer, so it' s motion was confined by the layers. DSC showed that the T_g of copolymer in hybrid had been changed. The mechanical properties of hybrid had been improved greatly after it was vulcanized, the layer could act as a good reinforcing agent for the composites.