Thermal and mechanical properties of (PET) / organoclay `nanocomposites produced by melt compounding

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/Organically-Modified Montmorillonite clay (OMMT) nanocomposites were prepared via melt extrusion. Two different organoclays including Cloisite 15A and Nanolin DK2 were used to produce the nanocomposites and the thermal and mechanical properties of these nanocomposites were compared. The non-isothermal crystallization behavior was studied by DSC and tensile and impact properties were evaluated. For both kinds of organoclays, it was found that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the nanocomposites decreased slightly. Cloisite 15A had better intercalations with PET and was more uniformly dispersed within PET than Nanolin DK2 and generally speaking the nanocomposites containing Cloisite 15A had superior properties than the DK2 counterparts.