PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF RECTORITE/THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE RUBBER NANOCOMPOSITES

Nanocomposites based on rectorite(REC) and thermoplastic polyurethane rubber(TPUR) were prepared successfully by a melt-processed intercalation method aiming at improving the mechanical properties. The results have shown that organic treating agents such as dodecyl aryl ammonium salt (C₁₂), hexadecyl ammonium salt (C₁₆), benzidine(BZD), etc. play a critical role on REC and the resulting composites. Several kinds of organic REC (termed as C₁₂-REC,C₁₆-REC and BZD-REC,respectively) were prepared for comparison, and C₁₂-REC has the best miscibility and dispersibility in TPUR. Tensile properties measurements of REC/TPUR indicate that the addition of about 2 wt% of C₁₂-REC can increase tensile strength and tear strength up to 57.93 MPa and 123.37kN/m, which are about 49% and 33% higher than those of pure TPUR, respectively. Besides, the influences of REC's treating conditions on nanocomposites' mechanical properties are basically investigated, and it is found that the best treating time to prepare organic REC is 2 h.