Effect Study of the Incorporation of the Green Lake Clay in the Polypropylene Homopolymer Properties

The advancement of technology has demanded the development of materials with increasingly lighter and more resistant properties. The development of nanocomposites first started in the mid-80s and contributed for obtaining materials with excellent properties. In this work, Green Lake clay was organophilized and incorporated into a commercial homopolymer polypropylene. The efficiency of organophilization was confirmed by water swelling analysis and, later, by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Composites at 0.5, 1.0 and 2% by weight of clay/polypropylene were prepared by double screw extrusion. The properties of the composite were evaluated by means of Charpy impact resistance, tensile strength at rupture, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Crystallinity index was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The organophilization process was efficient, the thermogravimetric analysis showed that there was no decrease in the thermal stability of the composites when compared to pure polypropylene, and the results of the Charpy impact resistance were equivalent when compared to the commercial nucleant composites.