近年来,聚合物/蒙脱土纳米复合材料已成为材料科学界的一个研究热点,各种高分子材料均被尝试用来制备此类纳米复合材料以提高聚合物的力学性能、热性能和阻隔性能.对聚合物/蒙脱士纳米复合材料的研究主要集中在制备方法、结构和性能表征方面,如何利用蒙脱土片层的特性来探索简单易行、成本较低且能够使蒙脱土充分剥离分散的方法一直是此方面的研究焦点.
Poly (styrene-acrylonitrile) emulsion particles with positive charges on the surface were synthesized by emulsion polymerization using cationic surfactant octotyltrirnethyl ammonium chloride (OTAC) as emulsifier. The suspension of montmorillonite was slowly dropped into the emulsion. Through the interaction between the negative charges on the montmorillonite layers and the cations on the surface of poly(styrene-acrylonitrile) particles, the montmorillonite layers and emulsion particles could assemble and absorb on each other by themselves. The change of δ voltage and particle size of the emulsion during the process of dropping was characterized, which demonstrated that the emulsion particles and montmorillonite layers absorbed on each other by the electrovalent bond and an intersectional structure was formed in the complex emulsion. Poly (styrene-acrylonitrile)/ montmorillonite nanocomposite was obtained after coagulation. The structure of nanocomposite was characterized with XRD and TEM. The results indicated that montmorillonite was exfoliated into layers with a thickness of several nanometers and uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix.