Thermal stabilities of vermiculites/polystyrene (VMTs/PS) naonocomposites via in-situ bulk polymerization

Serials of vermiculites/polystyrene (VMTs/PS) nanocomposites with different contents of organo-modified vermiculites (organo-VMTs) were successfully prepared by the in-situ bulk polymerization of styrene with the organo-VMTs as macromonomers. The thermogravimetric analysis TGA results showed that the thermal stabilities of the VMTs/PS nanocomposites prepared via the bulk polymerization were better than the pure polystyrene. And the maximum thermal degradation temperature of the nanocomposites increased with the increasing of the amount of the VMTs fillers added. The polymer grafted nanoparticles had lower thermal stabilities than the pure polystyrene because of the lower molecular weight of the grafted polymers. This also showed that the crosslink reactions occurred in the grafted polystyrene chains. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.