Influence of intercalated structure on the properties of montmorillonite/high-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber nanocomposites

In this article, montmorillonite/high-temperature silicone rubber hybrid nanocomposites were prepared via melt mixed process. The resulting hybrid nanocomposites were characterized by fourier transform infrared analysis (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile testing and swelling experiment etc. The results proved that the nanocomposites with montmorillonite treated with double octadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride prepared by melt mixed could form intercalated structure. Double octadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride has a better effect on enhancing hydrophobicity of montmorillonite layers and expanding the lamellar spacing of montmorillonite than dodecylamine. Furthermore, the mechanical property of the hybrids was improved. The intercalated structure could improve the apparent crosslinking degree of montmorillonite/high-temperature silicone rubber hybrid nanocomposites. Moreover, a novel strategy is proposed to study the effect of intercalated structure on degree of crosslinking.