Preparation and evaluation of polystyrene (PS) - layered double hydroxide (LDH) ZnAl - organofunctionalized with laurate/palmitate nanocomposites

This work describes the synthesis and characterization of polystyrene (PS) and layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposites formed by ZnAl cations via in situ polymerization. The LDH used in this study was modified with a mixture of two anions: laurate and palmitate. The characterization of structure and morphology for the synthesized nanocomposites was developed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The thermal, mechanical and flammability characterizations properties were carried out via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), bending test and flammability test, respectively. The results suggest that the nanocomposites have in general intercalated/exfoliated morphology with improvements in thermal and mechanical properties compared to the neat PS. However no significant improvement was observed on the flammability property.