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Preparation And Characterization Of Silane Grafted Montmorillonite
Poly(Ethylene) (PE) Composites
Farah Liyana bt Mohd Rodin
Supervisor: Dr. Mohd Aidil Adhha bin Abdullah
Bachelor of Science (Chemical Sciences)
School of Fundamental Science
The objective of this study is to compare the effect of single and dual modified
montmorillonite on the morphology, mechanical and thermal behaviour of the
resulting Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites prepared by melt
compounding. Sodium montmorillonite (MMT) were modified into organophilic
montmorillonite (OMMT) with trihexyltetradecylphosphonium ions by ion-exchange
method. The reaction of surfactant with MMT only involved weak electrostatic
interaction and thus second modification involve silane coupling agent,
aminopropyltrimethoxylsilane (APTMS) take place in order to produce twice-modified
clay (grafted-OMMT) that improved compatibility with LDPE. The resulting MMT,
OMMT, grafted-OMMT and MMT Grafted were characterized by Fourier transform
infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and CHNS
Elemental Analysis. The FTIR analysis for surfactant organoclay shows the presence
of new peaks from the surfactant. In grafted-OMMT, new peaks also present that
confirmed the successful of grafting reaction. The XRD analysis proved that the
modification happens by the increasing of clay interlayer basal spacing.
411 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2018