Author
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White, Leslie |
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BERTONIERE, NOELIE - COLLABORATOR |
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Submitted to: Polymer Preprints
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2002 Publication Date: 11/1/2002 Citation: White, L.A., Bertoniere, N.R. 2002. Preparation of Cotton/Clay Nanocomposites. Polymer Preprints. 43(2):1279-1280. Interpretive Summary: The development of polymer-clay nanocomposites has been a rapidly growing research field over the last decade. Organic-inorganic composites are "mixed" on a near molecular level. They behave much differently than conventional composites, showing large increases in performance properties of the matrix material with the addition of small amounts of inorganic filler. To date, most nanocomposites have utilized synthetic polymers as the matrix material. This research represents the development of natural fiber nanocomposites, containing at least 90% cotton. The nanocomposites were prepared by dissolving cotton and rapidly stirring it with the previously prepared clay. The resulting nanocomposites showed improvements in thermal properties when compared with cotton itself. Potential applications include products for commodity markets, such as coatings and insulation materials. Technical Abstract: A recent paper describes the development of flame retardant textiles from the well-established polyamide-6 (Nylon 6)/clay hybrid nanocomposite system. In this research, we report the development of cotton/clay nanocomposites with the potential to be used in flame retardant textiles. Because montmorillonite clays have a large surface area, which in turn provides a large interfacial region in the nanocomposite, it is expected than an enhancement in textile and thermal properties of cotton will occur at very low percent incorporation of the filler material. |
