EXFOLIATED CLAY-POLYETHYLENE NANOCOMPOSITES
OBTAINED BY IN SITU POLYMERIZATION. 
SYNTHESIS, STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES

A. V. Ivanyuk, V. A. Gerasin, A. V. Rebrov,
R. G. Pavelko, and E. M. Antipov

UDC 541.64:542.952

Intercalation of titanium complexes active in olefin polymerization 
into interlayer gaps of natural laminated aluminosilicate of Na+
-montmorillonite modified by dimethyldioctadecylammonium 
ions has been realized. Using in situ ethylene polymerization 
on intercalated complexes, polyethylene-modified montmorillonite nanocomposites 
with an aluminosilicate content from 4 to 43 mass % have been obtained. 
It has been proved by x-ray structural analysis that at a filler content 
of up to 24 mass % they represent exfoliated nanocomposite systems. 
The physicomechanical properties of the obtained materials have been 
investigated. It has been established that nanocomposites with a filler 
content of 4-8 mass % have the best complex of properties. Compared 
to pure (unfilled) polyethylene obtained under the same conditions, 
they are characterized by a higher value of the elastic modulus with 
the same level (which is particularly important) of tensile strength 
and specific elongation at rupture.

A. V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian 
Academy of Sciences, 29 Leninskii Ave., Moscow, 119991; 
email: ivanyuk@ips.ac.ru. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii 
Zhurnal, Vol. 78, No. 5, pp. 87-92, September-October, 2005. 
Original article submitted October 13, 2004.