Dual role of maleated polypropylene in processing and material characterisation of polypropylene/clay nanocomposites

Fundamental characterisation techniques were conducted with maleated polypropylene (MAPP) varying from 0 to 20 wt% (fixed clay content: 5 wt%) to understand its matrix plasticisation role in polypropylene (PP)/clay nanocomposites. It is evidently shown that well-balanced nanocomposite formulations with an optimal amount of MAPP no more than 6 wt% appear to be very critical. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.