Estudo da variação da resistência química em nanocompósitos de policarbonato com argila sódica natural e argila organofílica através da análise da energia livre de superfície

Abstract

Polycarbonate, an amorphous engineering polymer, has excellent mechanical strength and although it s good chemical resistance, its interaction with some types of alkali and some organic solvents is weak. The main objective of this work was to study the effect of the inclusion of nanometric particle size of natural sodium clay (named Nanolite) and sodium clay treated with quaternary ammonium salt (named Cloisite 15A) in resin processing in order to investigate the variations in chemical properties, transparency and molecular structure. The characterization of nanocomposite was performed using methods of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Molar Mass Characterization by Mark-Houwink-Sakurada equation, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Melt Flow Rate (MFR), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Chemical Resistance obtained by the contact angle technique / Fowkes method. Optical, thermal, physical and chemical testing indicated that the molecular structure of PC after the inclusion of clays remained unchanged showing no irreversible degradation. The analysis of chemical resistance through the contact angle method showed significant improvement in the surface free energy of the nanocomposites when using the organoclay (Cloisite 15A) and partial improvement when used natural sodium clay (Nanolite). The decrease in surface free energy, indicates a likely improvement in the chemical resistance of the nanocomposites.