Influence of organoclay dispersed state of poly(ethylene glycol‐co‐1,3/1,4‐cyclohexanedimethanol terephthalate)/organoclay nanocomposites on their characteristics

Abstract This work prepared poly(ethylene glycol‐co‐1,3/1,4‐cyclohexanedimethanol terephthalate) (PETG)/organoclay nanocomposites via a melt intercalation process and investigated the influences of organoclay aspect ratio and organoclay content on the dispersed state, mechanical, thermal, gas barrier, and heat recovery properties of PETG/organoclay nanocomposites. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopic analyses showed that the organoclay dispersed in the polymer matrix with intercalation in the nanometer scale range. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis demonstrated that all of the obtained nanocomposites were amorphous, indicating that the addition of organoclay did not affect the amorphous nature of PETG. The gas barrier properties of the nanocomposites improved with organoclay content and the properties were also affected by the organoclay aspect ratio. Water vapor and oxygen transmission rates (OTRs) of PETG/organoclay nanocomposites containing 3 phr Cloisite 15A, and 3 phr modified polymer grade Na‐montmorillonites (MPGN) were the lowest among the samples tested, and were 41.7 and 44.3%, respectively, of those of neat PETG. Similar organoclay content‐ and aspect ratio‐related effects were observed in the mechanical and heat recovery properties of the tested nanocomposites. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.