Quantitative characterization of clay dispersion in polymer-clay nanocomposites

Shaobo Xie, Eileen Harkin-Jones, Yucai Shen, Janet Hill, Peter Hornsby, Marion McAfee, Tony McNally, Raj Patel, Hadj Benkreira, Phil Coates

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A novel methodology has been developed to describe the microstructure of polymer-clay nanocomposites quantitatively. It builds on the image analyses of transmission electron microscopy and optical microscopy micrographs, and two parameters, degree of dispersion and mean interparticle distance per unit volume of clay, are proposed to characterize the level of clay dispersion. It provides insights into the 'real' clay dispersion using a combination of both microscopical and macroscopical aspects.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)151-156
Number of pages6
JournalMacromolecular Symposia
Volume301
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 1 Mar 2011

Keywords

  • clay
  • image analysis
  • nanocomposite
  • optical microscopy
  • transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

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