Influence of clay nanofillers on properties of ethylene‐octene copolymers.

The article deals with preparation, properties and usage of ethylene‐octene copolymers/clay films. Different properties of two types of ethylene‐octene copolymers (Engage 8540 and Engage 8842) with 17 and 45 wt% of octene (EOC‐17 and EOC‐45) were compared in nanocomposites with two types of clays—Cloisite 93A and Dellite 67. The aim was to evaluate the influence of (nano)filler type on ethylene‐octene nanocomposites properties. Mechanical and thermal properties, morphology, and UV radiation degradation were observed. Furthermore, permeability of three different gasses was determined. EOC nanocomposites perform a higher elongation at break, especially EOC‐45. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) showed an increase of E′ modulus of all nanocomposites in a wide range of temperatures compared to pure EOC. Intercalation of nanofillers was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). It has been proved that EOC‐45 has a better dispersion EOC‐17. DSC analysis showed a shift in a crystallization temperature for EOC‐17, where the nanofiller acted as a nucleation agent due to the worse dispersion. Barrier properties were improved by almost 100% by addition of organoclay for all measured gasses; they were best for EOC‐17 nanocomposites due to a higher crystallinity. XRD together with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed much better dispersion for EOC‐45 nanocomposites. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and accelerated UV aging showed CO peaks for EOC nanocomposites. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:4581–4593, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]