2009 Annual Meeting

(480e) Interfacial Structure and Interactions in Clay-Polymer Nanocomposites

Authors

Qinghua Zeng - Presenter, The University of New South Wales
Wen Xu - Presenter, The University of New South Wales
Aibing Yu - Presenter, The University of New South Wales
Max (Gaoqing) Lu - Presenter, University of Queensland
Donald R. Paul - Presenter, University of Texas at Austin


In the past decade, polymers reinforced with nanoparticles (e.g., spherical nanoparticles, nanotubes, clay platelets) have been emerged as a new class of materials and received tremendous attention in both scientific and industrial communities. Such polymer nanocomposites have demonstrated novel and often much improved mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties unattainable with their macro- and micro-counterparts. Such property enhancement is believed to be closely related to the molecular structure and interactions at the particle-polymer interface. Fundamental understanding of such structure and interactions will help us explore the enhanced properties and develop polymer nanocomposites with controlled structures and properties. In this talk, we will present the recent work toward such fundamental understanding in organoclays and nanocomposites by meaning of molecular modelling.

Keywords: polymer nanocomposites, molecular modelling, nanoparticles, interfacial interaction

References

1. Q. H. Zeng, A. B. Yu, G. Q. (Max) Lu and R. K. Standish. Molecular dynamics simulation of the structural and dynamic properties of organoclay, Journal of Chemical Physics, B 108: 10025-10033 (2004).

2. Q. H. Zeng, A. B. Yu, G. Q. (Max) Lu and D. R. Paul, Clay-based polymer nanocomposites: research and commercial development, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 5: 1574-1592 (2005).

3. Q. H. Zeng, A. B. Yu and G. Q.(Max) Lu, Interfacial interactions and structure of polyurethane intercalated nanocomposite, Nanotechnology, 16: 2757-2763 (2005).

4. D. R. Paul, Q. H. Zeng, A. B. Yu, and G. Q. (Max) Lu, The swelling and molecular packing in organoclays, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 292: 462-468 (2005).

5. Q. H. Zeng, A. B. Yu and G. Q. (Max) Lu, Multiscale modelling and simulation of polymer nanocomposites, Progress in Polymer Science, 33: 191-269 (2008).