A Novel Route to Lightweight Nanocomposites

"In this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project, we propose to develop a novel nanocomposite fabrication method involving adiabatic expansion supercritical fluid (SCF) mixtures of polymer and layered clay. We propose to fabricate nanocompositesfrom polypropylene, Nylon 6, and Nylon 6,6 resins with montmorillonite/fluorohectorite as the clay filler using CO2 as the SCF. The primary objective of this proposal is to identify the process conditions to cause efficient clay exfoliation, which in turnproduces nanocomposites with greatly improved modulus, strength and thermal stability. With proof of concept, we propose to extend this work to develop a low-cost, versatile processing technique to produce high modulus, damage-tolerant nanocomposites fordiverse applications. Polymer-clay nanocomposites are being seriously investigated for several industrial applications (defense, aircraft, automotive and electrical/electronic) where greatly enhanced physical properties are desired with significant weightsavings. Their full commercial exploitation, however, has been hampered by restrictive processing techniques. In contrast, our approach to nanocomposite fabrication confers certain distinct advantages: novelty (physical rather than chemical means ofexfoliation-differentiated potentially proprietary technology), versatility (i.e., not restricted by the choice of polymer or smectite clay), ease of processing (low-cost equipment and