Effect of Reactive Silane Coupling Agent on the Morphology of Polystyrene/Clay Nanocomposites Prepared by In-situ Suspension Polymerization

Dispersion or exfoliation of montmorillonite (MMT) clay into its individual clay platelets within a polymer matrix is known to depend on the polarity and structure of the polymerand the interaction between the clay and the polymer. Previous investigations have focused on either modifying the clay tobecome more organophilic or the polymer to become more hydrophilic in order to improve the compatibility of the clayand polymer [1,2]. In this work a novel modification using asilane coupling agent is introduced to obtain partially exfoliated PS/Clay nanocomposites prepared by in-situ suspension polymerization