Expanded vermiculite-filled flexible polymer composites

Abstract

This study focuses on the fabrication and characterization of vermiculite-filled flexible polymer composites. Exfoliated vermiculite was incorporated into triblock thermoplastic elastomer copolymer, styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene (SEBS), at various levels from 1 to 15 wt% by a high shear mixer. The composite films were obtained by the combination of solvent casting and compression molding. The morphological, structural, thermal, and mechanical properties and contact angle of the composites were determined. Some micro-morphological differences were observed between the samples and the difference was assumed to be caused by high shear mixing and filler concentration. High shear mixing was found effective in terms of the detachment of vermiculite layers at all concentrations. However, at low filler loading, that behavior was more obvious. At 1 wt% filler concentration, mechanical properties increased that was probably caused by good filler-matrix interaction stemmed from smaller particle size. At higher vermiculite concentrations, fillers found to show agglomerations that led to a decrease in mechanical strength and strain at break. Elastic and secant modulus showed an increasing trend. Contact angle measurements were carried out to determine the oleophilic character of the samples. An increase in the vermiculite content resulted in higher oleophilic character and the lowest contact angle was obtained at 15 wt% VMT loading. In addition to these, thermal stability, thermal dimensional stability and flame retardancy were improved by the incorporation of VMT. 15 wt% vermiculite-filled sample showed the best performance in terms of thermal stability and flame retardancy.