ABS/clay nanocomposites obtained by a solution technique: Influence of clay organic modifiers

The morphology of ABS based polymer nanocomposites prepared in this work was characterized by means of wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dynamic-mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to determine the storage modulus and damping coefficient as a function of temperature, and to investigate the correlations between mechanical properties and morphology of the nanocomposites. The thermal stability was assessed by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DMA and TGA show that the nanocomposites based on imidazolium-modified clay out-perform the nanocomposites based on quaternary-ammonium-modified clays in terms of mechanical properties and thermal stability.